


Staring on the train

by CourtneyFG



Series: The lies we tell ourselves to survive [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-09 00:09:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 61,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3228758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourtneyFG/pseuds/CourtneyFG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra is an ex Marine that's become a local twitter celebrity and Asami works in the R&D department of her father's company. Both women have their own inner demons to deal with but they don't let that get in the way of their budding relationship that all starts when Korra takes a covert picture of the hot woman on the train and tweets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Passengers on a Train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra takes a covert picture of the hot woman on the train and tweets it.

Korra often got bored on train trips, it was only a half hour ride from her apartment in the suburbs into the CBD but for her even that long was agony, she liked to keep active and loathed sitting still. Her favourite activity for curing boredom was entertaining her many Twitter followers. Korra had gained the media’s attention as the ‘young attractive war hero’ but her follows stayed for her humours quips and often unique perspective on life. She looked around the train searching for something to make a comment about _maybe something about wanting to join the guy watching lesbian porn on his tablet._

The train pulled into the next station, the porn guy departed and a crowed of people got on. Amongst the group of new passengers was a woman that made Korra’s heart stop; she was beyond amazing. She watched as the woman, who looked only a little older than herself, took the seat on the other side of the isle and 2 rows up. She looked like she belonged in a high-end fashion magazine except her whole outfit had a strange grunge aesthetic to it. She wore skinny black jeans with a belt that was fastened with a silver buckle in the shape of a half gear, black leather knee-high boots with oversize brass loopholes and laces that looked like they were made of twine, her top was a black loose fitting light weight tee that had the arms cut out exposing the sides of her black lace bra, around her neck hung a black and white tartan scarf with the occasional thin read stripe through it, her left arm was adorned with an assortment of bracelets all in shades of black or grey, her nails were painted the same shade of red as her lipstick, and her face was framed by long dark ebony waves. Korra thought that she looked effortlessly stunning. Her eyes looked happy as she played oh her phone and her head bobbed in time to the music that she was listening to through her aviator style headphones.

Korra blushed as she realised that she had been staring way too long and returned her back to her phone only stealing the occasional glace at the woman. She didn’t often take photos of people without their consent but she knew she needed the world to appreciate just how hot this woman was, so she took a covert picture of her and tweeted ‘My future wife just got on the train!’ she watched as the usual onslaught of replies came in, ‘Be my wife’, ‘she’s not as hot as you’, ‘I love you’, ‘OMG you’re 2 funny’. She looked up from her phone as the train pulled into the next station and she was disappointed to see that the woman was getting up from her seat to leave the train. Korra looked back down at her phone and scanned for a comment worthy of a reply. Her attention was so focussed on her phone that she didn’t look up as someone sat down next to her as the train left the station.

She was shocked from her bubble when the person sitting next to her leaned in and whispered, ‘Future wife huh? How about we start with dinner?’ Korra sat bolt upright and turned her attention to the woman sitting next to her brandishing a phone displaying the photo she had just tweeted. She felt her face go an embarrassing shade of red as she sat there open mouthed staring into the most disarming shade of green eyes she had ever seen in her life. The woman let out an amused snicker and added, ‘I’m Asami.’ as she offered her hand.

‘K-Korra,’ she stammered in reply, ‘but I guess you already knew that.’

Asami smiled sweetly at her and she felt like she was going to melt. ‘I’ve been a bit of a fan of yours for a while now; your tweets are hilarious and clever. Would you maybe like to get dinner or a drink some time?’

‘Yeah, that would be nice and since I proposed prematurely, my shout!’ Asami just smiled and nodded in agreement.


	2. Memories Shared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami and Korra go on their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologies in advance for any mistakes or typos, I don't have a beta reader.

Asami was nervous, she knew from their brief conversation on the train that Korra had no idea who she was, which was kind of refreshing. She had thought that when she posted the photo to twitter that she was being sarcastically oblivious but after talking to her she knew that Korra was honestly unaware that she was the heiress to a multi-billion yuan international company. Asami wondered how long she could keep her true identity in the dark, without directly lying to Korra. She didn’t know where Korra was intending to take them for dinner so she’d defaulted to her corporate power outfit; black stilettos, black slacks, a loose fitting burgundy silk blouse that reveals a modest about of cleavage, and a simple black leather cuff on her wrist. She hoped that the look wasn’t too intimidating for a first date but it was too late to worry about that now as she stood under a streetlight looking out over Yue Bay waiting for Korra to show up. 

It had been a long time since Asami had been on a date, growing up a child prodigy and being the only child of the richest man in the world lead to an isolated life, that coupled with her natural good looks meant that when she did interact with people they were too intimidated by ‘Miss Asami Sato’ to ever bother getting to know ‘Asami’. Starting out over the bay, the city lights reflecting off of the water remind her of her first ever date. She was 14 (half her life ago) and at boarding school in Ba Sing Se, she’d been put in an accelerated learning program and was years ahead of the other girls her age, which had made it hard to make any friends. It was a warm spring night when she’d decided to prove to the other girls that she wasn’t a ‘princess’, she’d slipped out over the fence and caught a train all the way out to the outer ring. She spent a few hours wondering around the streets just taking an environment that she’s never been exposed to before. 

When she felt a hand on her shoulder her self-defence training kicked in and she flipped the assailant onto their back. The boy was only a little older then herself and he looked up at her sheepishly, he admitted that he thought she looked out of place and thought that she might need a chaperone to keep her safe. She blushed under his gaze and conceded to him keeping her company; he took her hand and acted like her own personal tour guide, showing her all the historic parts of the area. He led her down a small back ally that lead to a fountain surrounded by dozens of lanterns whose light shimmered in the rippling water, he pulled her in close and whispered into her ear that the place was called the Firelight Fountain and that it was his favourite place in the world. She’d never felt more like a regular teenage girl than she did in that moment; it made her feel a little giddy and reckless so she turned into the boy and stole a kiss. She blushed hard, it was her first real kiss, she didn’t know what to say so she just let the boy take her by the hand as he led her back to the train station. It was early in the morning as she got on the train; she leaned down and gave the boy another kiss before the doors closed. None of the girls in her dorm believed her story and when they asked her what the boys name was she could answer because honestly she forgot to ask but that didn’t matter, to her it had been the most magical night of her life.

As her hair floated in the sea breeze she was brought back to the present by yet another hand on her shoulder. Asami turned around and was instantly taken aback by the woman that stood in front of her. If she hadn’t been expecting her she wouldn’t have recognised her. Korra’s shoulder length bob had been replaced by the cutest asymmetric pixie cut Asami had ever seen and her vibrant blue eyes shone out from under her side swept fringe. She must have noticed Asami’s eyes taking in her new haircut because her cheeks went the palest shade of pink as her had shot to the back of her neck in a nervous gesture. ‘What do you think?’ she asked with a shy smile.

Asami wasn’t usually one to be lost for words but when the only though going through her head was, _How is she even real? She is too cute,_ it took all her effort to compose herself to reply, ‘Spin, let me have a proper look.’ Korra extended her arms by her sides and did a slow turn on the spot. She wore a floaty ocean blue dress that brought out the colour of her eyes and was cinched at the waist with a thin brown belt and her feet were adorned with a simple pair of Fire Nation colony sandals that tied up and around her calves. It was an understated ensemble but she looked stunning. ‘I think the hair cut suits you and you look fantastic.’ She flashed Asami a lopsided smile in appreciation of the complement and Asami thought that this woman was going to be the end of her. She couldn’t believe that this woman, who single handily took down the leader of a terrorist organisation that was responsible for attempted genocide, the same woman who commanded the attention of more than half a million Twitter followers, could also be this shy and bashful woman standing in front of her. ‘So, where are you taking me for dinner?’ 

Korra looked up at her, ‘I only said that dinner was my shout, I’m letting you pick the restaurant, I don’t know where’s good, I haven’t actually spent much time in the city.’ 

This gave Asami pause, she hadn’t expected to be the one to make the decision so she racked her brain trying to think of what restaurants were close by, ‘How do you feel about pizza? There’s a great gourmet pizza place close by that also offer bespoke pizzas’ 

‘Sounds perfect, lead the way.’ Asami started walking and Korra fell in step next to her, ‘So, I feel at a little bit of a disadvantage here.’ 

‘How do you mean?’

‘You all ready know all about me but I know nothing about you. Tell me about yourself, what do you do for a living?’ 

 _Breath Asami, tread carefully._ ‘I’m 28, I was born right here in republic city, I’m an only child, I went to boarding school and University in Ba Sing Se and I’m a designer.’ None of which was a lie.

‘A designer, wow, that explains your keen fashion sense.’

‘Thank you for the complement, but no, I’m not a fashion designer; I’m an industrial designer. What about you? I know about your accomplishments as a Marine, and I now that your are intelligent and funny but I know nothing of you, as a person.’ She was trying to push the conversation away from herself and she hoped it wasn’t too obvious.

‘I’m 27, I was born in the Sothern Water Tribe, I too am an only child, from a young age I was sent away to Military School, It wasn’t as a punishment or anything like that, my parents just thought job prospects on the south are limited and that the armed forces would give me the best advantage at a career. I resigned from the Marines last year for personal reasons and now I travel the world as a motivational speaker.’ _Helping people, that’s her thing,_ Asami thought.

‘Well, here we are.’ She announced as she held the door open for Korra.

She’d picked this restaurant because it was small and only seated about 60 people, which was good because it meant less chances of anyone recognising her but also because she was a regular and could count on the staff respecting their privacy. They were greeted by the portly host who promptly pulled Asami into a hug. 

‘Asami, always a pleasure to see you, and who’s this?’ he asked turning his attention to Korra, ‘Asami’s _never_ brought anyone here with her before, you must be special.’ Asami felt her face flush red as Korra gave her a searching look.

‘I’m Korra’ she announced offering her hand.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Korra, I’m Jon, and this is my pizzeria. Now if you two lovely ladies would like to follow me, I’ll show you to your table.’ Jon led them down the back of the restaurant and out a door to a small courtyard with garden beds around the edges and lit only by suspended lanterns. There were only four tables for two in the area and the whole thing looked peaceful.

Some minutes later they were seated and Korra was mulling over the menu. Asami already knew want she was ordering, so she spent the time to take in the girl sitting across from her. Korra looked like someone who kept in shape, but she looked a little soft around the edges, so she suspected that she’s lost some of her muscle tone in the last year. Her eye’s looked happy and sad at the same time, and there was no doubt in her mind that this woman had seen some horrors in her life, _That kind of stuff must really affect a person._ Asami’s train of thought was broken by a small cough from Korra, who was now eyeing her suspiciously instead of the menu.

‘So, what can you recommend? I can’t decide between the Chicken/Mushroom/Caramelised Onion or the Pumpkin/Spinach/Pine Nut.’ 

‘Both of those are fine choices, I personally find the joy of this place is creating your own pizza.’

‘Well what are you having?’

‘I don’t think I can explain it with a straight face, it’s an odd combination, you’ll just have to wait and see.’

She’d clearly piqued Korra’s interest but she could see that she wasn’t going to push it. Jon arrived back at the table to take their orders carrying a bottle of red wine and two glasses. ‘On the house for the special occasion’ he announced. He poured the wine for the ladies and took their orders (Korra, the chicken and Asami, the usual).

‘You must come here a lot to receive this level of service, am I really the first date you’ve brought here?’ Korra questioned. 

‘My office is in the area; I come here for lunch quite a bit. And yes you are the first, this is actually the first date I’ve been on in about six years.’ There was that sad look again from Korra, ‘Work is very demanding and monopolises most of my time, people tell me I work too hard, but I like doing it, it’s what I love, so I don’t see it as _work._ ’

‘You don’t have to justify your lack of dating to me, I can totally relate, I’ve spent a decade married to the job and this past year I’ve enjoyed figuring out who I am without the uniform, this is my first date in a long time too. I was just shocked that someone with your looks and charm wasn’t being wined and dined every other night of the week.’

The next 20 minutes were spent swapping stories about boarding school. Korra told a rather animated story about letting a whole colony of penguin-seals loose in the compound because she’d lost a bet. Asami told her about a debaucherous night she’d spent with one of the older girls, the two of them had been discovered the next morning, butt naked, on a couch, on the balcony of the older girls room, by her roommate who’d come outside for her morning coffee and smoke. Korra had let out a full body laugh at that story and Asami decided that was her new favourite sound in the world. Korra told her the story about how she’d discovered that she was a lesbian. She was 15 and she’d been crushing on her best friend’s older brother, when she’d finally worked up the courage to tell him, she kissed him only to realise that it didn’t feel right and she hoped that he would turn her down so that she’d never have to kiss him again. Unfortunately he’d had a crush on her too and the whole thing turned into a big complicated mess for about a week, until she confessed to him that what she thought was attraction was just mixed up teenage hormones and that she actually didn’t like him _that way_ but in fact liked girls. 

Jon arrived back at their table with their meals and Korra just stared at Asami’s pizza in disbelief. ‘Is that banana on your pizza?’ she asked in shock. 

‘Yes, and ham, pineapple, macadamia nuts and cheese.’

‘That is the most bazaar thing I have ever seen, this must be tweeted.’ She took out her phone and snapped a picture and sent off a tweet. 

‘Look I know it sounds like an odd combination but don’t knock it until you try it.’ She half expected that Korra would brush off the offer but instead she grabbed a piece and took a rather large unladylike bite. The next noise to escape Korra’s lips was a loud sensual moan. 

‘Oh Spirits, I want that pizza to father my children. That was unexpectedly delicious, what ever possessed you to try that combination in the first place?’ 

‘When I was six, my mother was making pizza at home one night and put me in charge of picking the toppings, I’d pulled the banana out of the fridge by accident and absentmindedly put it on the counter with the other ingredients, It wasn’t until after the pizza was cooked that I noticed the banana, I asked her about it and she said that she found it in the pile of ingredients and that she wasn’t going to impede my creative flair. We all approached dinner a little sceptically that evening but, just like you have discovered, it just works.’ 

‘Your mum sounds amazing’

‘She was, she died later that same year. This pizza reminds me of her.’ She was used to the sad look that people gave her when she mentioned that her mother was dead but Korra didn’t look at her that way, the look she was giving her looked almost like pride, _this woman is unlike anyone I’ve ever met._ Korra change the topic after that and they spent the rest of dinner con conversation about different places they’d travelled to.

Jon reappeared at the table some time later. ‘Anything else I can get you ladies?’ 

‘Yes, can I get the check please?’ Korra asked. 

‘That’s already been taken care of, I’ve already put it on the Sato tab.’ _SHIT!_

‘Sato? You’re The Asami Sato?’

Jon’s face dropped as he realised what he’d done and he scuttled back into the restaurant. 

Asami looked up at her with a sheepish grin and exclaimed, ‘Surprise!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I ramble a little, I was just really getting into Asami's backstory.
> 
> I'm not sure hoe long I can keep this going for, this has no real direction and I usually don't like writing fluff or fluffs sake.


	3. thoughts and trees.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra spends some time reflecting on her feeling for Asami.

The early morning sun filtered in through Korra’s bedroom window hitting her in the face, which made it hard for her to deny that it was actually time to get out of bed. She’d already been awake for hours cocooned in a nest of pillows, mindlessly surfing the internet on her phone but now it was time to walk amongst the living. She rolled out of bed, pulled on her sweat pants, sports bra and top then headed out the door. For the past year Korra’s morning routine hadn’t changed, 12km run, 30min conditioning training followed by 45min of yoga. It kept her fit and nimble without all the excess muscle bulk. Today’s run cleared her foggy morning head and let her process the events of the previous night. 

After dinner Asami had walked her to the train station and as they said their good byes she had pulled her into a hug and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. In Korra’s opinion it had been a good first date, they had laughed, swapped stories and neither had offended the other. The thing that kept nagging her about the date wasn’t that Asami had kept her true identity secret, she could understand that, but that she had been unabashedly honest about things that the media would have a field day with if they ever found out. Was she just that reckless with regards to her reputation or did she truely trust Korra enough to be honest? She would be lying if she said she hadn’t felt a connection to the woman, she was easy to talk to, she didn’t press for information but was happy with what Korra was willing to share and she could tell from reading between the line that Asami had just as many ghosts in her past as she did. It was refreshing to be treated like an equal instead of like someone to be revered.

After breakfast Korra opened up her laptop to check her emails, there wasn’t anything particularly interesting, one from work telling her that she was booked to talk at a high-school leadership seminar next week, one from Dr Tenzin’s office reminding her about her monthly appointment tomorrow and a bunch of spam. She’d hoped for a last minute booking from work but it looked like she would have to entertain herself for the day.

 -

Avatar Park was all the way over on the opposite side of town but it was tranquil relaxing and that was exactly what Korra needed right now. Living in the city was necessity for her job but it was hectic and noisy, two of the things that Korra had experienced too much in her life. Avatar Park itself was more of a botanic garden; there was a labyrinth of walkways connecting all the different areas that were home to flora from across the world. Tucked away on the far side of the park was her favourite place in Republic City, it was a garden with plants from the Earth Kingdom, with the centrepiece of the collection being a banyan tree, its liberal foliage providing a shady area for Korra to relax and connect with nature. She nestled herself amongst some of the roots and enjoyed the cool afternoon breeze on her face. Korra’s thoughts drifted back to Asami and how much of an enigma the woman was, her own experience with civilians was limited, she’d spent the past year trying to heal her non-visible wounds which left her inter personal experiences wanting, so the action of this woman were exaggeratedly foreign to her. All she knew for certain was that she wanted her in her life, so she needed to not let her slip away. She took out her phone and tapped away a message.

 **Korra (12:45): -** I had fun last night. I’d really like a chance to get to know you better. Are you free any time this week?

She rested the phone in her lap and relaxed into the tree as she waited for a reply. Asami was a busy woman, maybe she didn’t reply to personal messages during work time. _Oh well, at least she knows I’m interested._ She closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree taking in the tranquillity of the palk when her phone buzzed. 

 **Asami (13:10): -** I wish I was but R &D are working on a big project which mean I’m sleeping on the cot in my office for the rest of the week.

 **Asami (13:12): -** How about a compromise. You get to know be better, without actually seeing me? 

 **Korra (13:13): -** Huh? 

 **Asami (13:15): -** Ask me anything you want and I’ll answer truthfully, one rule, I can ask you anything as well. 

 **Asami (13:16): -** P.S. I might not reply right away, I am supposed to be working, but sending texts from my laptop means it’s less of an interruption to work flow then texting from my phone. 

 _Again with the honesty and blind trust?_ But she did have to admit that it was an intriguing opportunity that she was not going to give up. 

 **Korra (13:18): -** Fair call. Let me think.

 **Korra (13:20): -** Favourite colour?

 **Asami (13:22): -** Red, you?

 **Korra (13:23): -** Blue. Name of your first kiss? 

 **Asami (13:25): -** Didn’t ask. Best friend’s name?

 **Korra (13:26): -** Naga, my pet polar-bear-dog, she lives with my parents in the SWT. You?

 **Asami (13:30): -** Don’t have one. Any piercings or tattoos? 

_How hard should I flirt? This could be fun._

**Korra (13:34): -** Piercings – none. Tattoos – you’ll have to wait and see ;-) 

 **Asami (13:40): -** Really? Okay. 

 _Not shut down, that’s a good sign._  

 **Korra (13:41): -** You?

 **Asami (14:01): -** A half dozen holes in my various parts of my ears, considering getting a derma anchor but I’m not sure where. No tattoos. Mummy’s or a Daddy’s girl?

 **Korra (14:02): -** Definite Daddy’s girl. Why were you on the train the other day?     

This had been one of the things that Korra couldn’t figure out, Asami was rich, she didn’t need to catch public transport, she probably had her own personal driver to take her wherever she wanted to go, so why was she on the train? 

 **Asami (14:13): -** I sometimes ride the trains during my lunch break, it helps me clear my head. Have you ever been to Avatar Park at night? 

 **Korra (14:14): -** I’m there right now, it’s my favourite place in the city but I do have to admit that I’ve never been here at night. Why do you ask? 

 **Asami (14:30): -** How about I show you on Saturday night?

The prospect of another date with Asami put a grin on Korra’s face from ear to ear.

 **Korra (14:31): -** I’m down with that. 

 **Asami (14:32): -** Korra, that best friend question, you’re definitely the front running contender for the position. 

 **Korra (14:33): -** I’ve barely known you three days, and already you think so highly of me, I’m flattered. 

She was genuinely flattered, but it also made her feel sad for Asami, what kind of lonely life must she be living? Or did she feel the same connection that she did? Korra closed her eyes contemplating the answer as sound of the rustling leaves lulled her into a blissful afternoon sleep. Half an hour later she woke up to a few frantic text from Asami. 

 **Asami (14:50): -** I’ve never had this kind of instant report with anyone ever before. It scares me a little, but I’m not going to fight it. I just hope to the spirits that I haven’t read too much into your flirting.

 **Asami (14:56): -**  ... 

 **Asami (15:00): -** Korra??? 

At least now she knew the feeling was mutual. 

 **Korra (15:10): -** Sorry, I fell asleep lying in the shade of the banyan tree. How about we discuss this in person on Friday. 

 **Korra (15:11): -** And don’t stress, I get the feeling that there aren’t too many things that you read and don’t understand immediately ;-)

 **Asami (15:12): -** I look forward to Saturday. I’ll call you tomorrow with details. I really should give work my full attention now. Bye. 

Korra was excited; she hadn’t been on a date in over 10 years and now she had her second one in a week lined up. She just needed to get through the next two days. Thursday wouldn’t been too bad, she had an appointment with Dr Tenzin and now she had some good news for him, she had no plans for Friday though, maybe she could convince Tenzin to give her another referral to Kya, she could handle spending Friday in a sensory deprivation tank, or maybe she could stay home and watch Netflix. Either which way she had another date with Asami and nothing was going to spoil her good mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There probably won't be an update for a little while, but next week is Korra appreciation week so I have a mini-series that I'm working on for that.


	4. Always Moving Foward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami reflects on her personal history to try and sort through her feelings for Korra

In her own mind she was home, over the years she had woken up more times on the cot in her office than she had in the bed in her apartment. She preferred it this way, the first thing she’d done when her father presented her with her office was call her old boarding school to negotiate buying the cot; her cot. It had been her bed since she was six and when her father first sent her away to boarding school because he didn’t know how to look after a grieving child. Even after she had graduated from high school at age 15, the school’s dorms still remained her home because she was too young to live in the university dorms (Her farther had solely funded the new science block just for the privilege of her remaining a resident of the school). Even though she’d spent holidays at the mansion, in her own spacious bed with its heavily downed mattress and pillows, it wasn’t the same as that small-ridged cot which only had just enough room for her.

Future Industries took great effort in ensuring their staff had a friendly, caring and supportive environment to work in, which meant that each of their office buildings around the world housed a fully equipped gym, games room, slumber room and cinema (all of which was provided free to their staff and family), the only amenity Asami needed, that wasn’t readily at her disposal, was a laundry (she visited her apartment once a week to do her washing). She swung her legs off the cot and padded over to her desk to remove a fresh shirt and set of underwear from the bottom draw and retrieved her black jeans from the floor of the office. It was 5 o’clock in the morning as she wondered through the empty building, simply wearing the black singlet and underpants that she slept in, to make her way to the gym’s locker room where she kept her towel, toiletries and makeup. She hadn’t exactly lied to Korra when she said that she was 'sleeping at the office for the rest of the week', she just neglected to let her know that it was also her normal routine and it was this guilt that she was trying to wash away in the scalding hot shower she was taking.

Asami was scared by her feelings for Korra and her own apparent lack of control or filter when it came to what she shared about herself with the woman. This was a stranger she’d only met a few days ago, a woman she also found herself thinking about for an alarming amount of her time. She just needed some space to sort out whether what she was feeling was just a silly crush on a beautiful young woman or something genuine that had manifested in such a brief amount of time. She knew, regardless of whatever actions she took, that there was no way any type relationship with Korra could ruin her, and by extension the company’s, reputation. Her Father had taken every effort to ensure that Future Industries encapsulated every meaning of the word ‘future’, this included having progressive HR policies concerning gender and sexuality, this did not mean that his views extended to his only child and Asami relished in the fact that no matter his personal feelings towards her lifestyle he could never do anything publicly to condemn her. 

When she was 16 she decided to come out as bisexual to her Father during the summer holidays, she had never expected him to have a problem with the news but she was shocked when her Father (to now only be referred to as Hiroshi when they were in private) expressed how disappointed he was in her and informed her that she was never to bring any or her ‘lady lovers' back to the mansion or expect him to ever accept any of her homosexual tendencies because they were an abomination. The first thing Asami had done after discovering her father’s double standard was call one of her ‘lady lovers’ (As Hiroshi had put it) that lived in Republic City and invited her to the Annual Future Industries Summer Solstice Staff Ball, then she took her fathers clippers to her hair and gave herself a rather impressive punk-rock mohawk. Her and the girl on her arm were the talk of the party that year and Asami drew great satisfaction watching Hiroshi twitch (not that anyone but her would notice his tick) as he announced how proud and supportive he was of his daughter. After graduating from University, Asami never returned to her father’s mansion, she acquired a spacious loft apartment with a mezzanine bedroom from a local artist (for well over asking price) and moved in immediately without retrieving any of her personal effects from the mansion. 

After her shower Asami was still no closer to understanding her feelings towards Korra, so decided that a day on the track was in order. High speeds always cleared her head and she did have to sign off on the custom bike that had been commissioned by one of the premier Moto GP riders for the Fire Nation. She dried her hair and braided it back out of her face and forwent her usual layer of makeup then, after getting dressed, made her way back to her office. Where she pulled on a pair of flats and retrieved her car keys from the desk draw. She also left a note taped to her door letting the rest of her team know that she would be at the track for the day should they need to contact her. Down in the garage of the building, Asami spied her baby, it was sleek black ’56 Sato roadster, that she had lovingly restored herself, right down to the white wall tiers and red leather upholstery. She had also done a complete retrofit on the car, including blue-tooth sound system, GPS, keyless entry and ignition and heated seats.  While she had tried to make the engine as eco friendly as possible, she couldn’t bare to tamper with the classic V12 engine, the purr of that car made her feels things, few people had made her feel. As she literally jumped into the car (she had named her Merlot, after the colour of the upholstery) she hit the start button, took the hand brake off and put her foot on the gas.

The test track was a few kilometres out of town but it was a pleasant drive and still being relatively early in the morning there was little traffic on the road so she made good time. Asami spent the whole day at the track, she started off the morning by taking her bike for a few warm up laps while she waited for the mechanics and other test drivers to show up. The rest of the day she spent test riding the special order and making notes for the mechanics about adjustments, before taking it out again. While the company had specially trained test riders on staff, Asami was easily the company’s best rider, which meant she was the one to put all special order vehicles through their paces and had to personally sign off on them, the customers also appreciated it because it felt like a personal touch, which was rare from such a large company. 

During her lunch break she let her thoughts drift back to Korra and without thinking too much about it, she knew that she couldn’t afford to let her slip away. She took out her phone and sent Korra off a message.

 **Asami (12:38): -** Are we still on for tomorrow night? 

 **Korra (12:39): -** Looking forward to it. Where do you want to meet and what time?

 **Asami (12:42): -** How about I pick you up, say around 7pm?

 **Korra (12:43): -** That would be great if it’s not too much trouble. Also what’s the dress code, we are still going to the park right?

 **Asami (12:44): -** No trouble at all. Yes we are still going to the park so just wear something casual and don’t forget to send me though your address. I’ll see you tomorrow. 

 **Korra (12:45): -** I’ll see you then.

That was settled. She just had to get through the rest of today and tomorrow without giving into the schoolgirl grade excitement bubbling away inside about her second date with the amazing SWT woman. She could handle it she was Asami Sato after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference this (http://thecrapbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tumblr_m7blgkxaU61r9yro6o1_500.jpg) is the car I had in mind, it's a Jaguar XK120.
> 
> I know this chapter is Asami heavy, the next one will delve a little more into Korra's back story.
> 
> If there is anything you want to see explored in the fic, just leave a comment. I'm flying blind at the moment, I've got one or two things that I want to address but I'm not really working toward anything at the moment. 
> 
> Also comment if there is anything you want to see more of or things that aren't working for you. just let me know.


	5. Rides and Parks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra spends some time alone and her and Asami go on their second date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I had a few technological malfunctions, then writers block and Uni started back and life happened. But it is here now, and it is a long chapter almost 3k. Enjoy.

Korra’s Friday was an uneventful day, she spent the morning in Dr Tenzin’s office listening to him prattle on about ‘be the leaf’ ( _Head shrinks really do have some strange metaphors_ ), and how he was concerned at her continued inability to maintain regular sleeping patterns, although he was please to hear that she had made a new friend. Her monthly visits with Tenzin always left her feeling happy and confident about herself. She then spent her the afternoon doing her weekly Netflix binge. Friday was the one day a week she let herself watch TV, so she always made the most of it, with one big bowl of pop-corn and a few beers to see her through the six or so hours of unwatched shows from the week.

She fell asleep in the middle of an episode of ‘P.I. Ginger’ (a D-grade spin off from the Nuktuk franchise, that was just so bad it was good) and woke up on the couch a few hours later with the inability to go back to sleep. Korra couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept through the night, she lived on 4-5 hours a night and some days she’d manage a nap in the afternoons. The wee hours of the mornings were spent online interacting with people in the Fire Nation (it was a time zone thing) It was for these moments that she was pleased that her admirers where only aware of her Twitter account and that she’d managed to keep all her other accounts private, she liked to keep her public persona happy and cheerful and 3am was when the shadows crept and those shadows were anything but happy. It was only a few more hours until the sun would be up and it would be time for her morning run, so she made her way to her bed and nestled in with her laptop for the next few hours, looking up anything and anything that would keep her mind away from the dark places. 

When the sun rose on the Saturday morning Korra could not deny that it was looking like a beautiful day so after her morning exercise she decided to spend that day riding her bike from her apartment up to the small village outside of the city. Her apartment was already on the outskirts of town of the ride wasn’t really that far but the bike track was along the coast and she enjoyed the sea breeze whipping against her face and it never failed to remind her of Harbour City, of home. She needed reminding sometimes, home was always good memories nothing was tainted there. She remembered how her mum always made her seaweed noodles for the first night she was at home for the holidays and she also remembered her Ice dodging rite of passage. 

The Custom was one of the few traditions that the Southern Water Tribe still adhered to, mainly because it was hard to stop 14 year olds from Ice dodging for fun so at least this way they did it supervised. During her run, she was put in charge of the rudder and she was making a good job of helping the vessel keep its course, until one of the boys was hit in the head by the boom and thrown overboard. Korra knew the others needed her but she couldn’t let the boy drown, she also new that there was a tight turn ahead, so she used a length of rope to secure the tiller to the railing and dove into the water after the boy. Korra had always been a strong swimmer and rescued the unconscious boy easily, as she dragged him ashore where the locals came to watch the ritual, she looked back just in time to see the boat make the turn. The boy had a concussion but was otherwise fine one of the elders of their tribe came and wrapped them both in furs and her dad gave her the biggest hug of her life. As her father presented her with the mark of the brave he told her he was the proudest person there but she knew she was prouder of herself than anyone. Two years later she’d felt that same pride when she was pulled aside during her recruitment process for the Navy and informed that she’d been chosen for a place in the Marines. 

It was just on lunchtime by the time she arrived in the town and the tide in the small bay was all the way out. She bought some fish and chips for lunch and spent her time relaxing watching a dog playing in the puddles of low tide. She took a photo of the dog and posted it to twitter (‘I wish I could take this charming fellow home with me’), _was that tag misleading, whoops!_ She hadn’t mentioned her date(s) with Asami to her followers, they didn’t need to know the details of her love life, besides Asami was something special and she wanted to keep her to herself for as long as possible ( _Tenzin doesn’t count_ ). She checked her watch and figured that if she was going to be presentable for Asami when she picked her up at 7pm that she has better start heading home.

\--- 

Korra was still getting ready in her room when Asami knocked at the door. ‘Come in, the door’s unlocked’ she called out, ‘I’ll be out in a sec, just make yourself at home.’ Korra still had to brush her hair and her teeth and but the touches on her makeup. After she finished getting ready she looked herself over in the mirror and decided that she didn’t look too bad, her skinny blue jeans did a nice job of showing off her legs and the white halter top exposed a fair amount of flesh to be enticing but still casual. 

‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, I’m all ready to go now’ she announced as she made her way to the living room. Asami turned around to face her from her place on the couch and Korra stood there as jade eyes hungrily took in her body, _Yep, definitely made the right clothing option._ ‘Eye’s up top Miss Sato’, she teased with a coy smile. 

‘Sorry but… wow! You look amazing’ Asami’s voice sounding a little caught. Korra made her way to the couch and the two women shared a greeting hug, and for the briefest of instances she felt lips brush against her cheek. 

‘You don’t look too bad yourself.’ She said taking in Asami’s dark red tight jeans and her loose fitting black Fire Ferrets shirt that was visible under her black and red leather jacket. ‘Ready to go?’ 

‘Whenever you are.’ Asami replied as she motioned Korra towards the door with her hand. 

They made their way down to the car that was parked out on the street and Korra tried to keep her dumbfound expression from her face when she saw Asami’s car. _Wow, I wouldn’t even be surprised if she told me that she built it herself._  

‘Korra, meet Merlot, she’s my pride and joy.’ 

‘Do you always colour coordinate your outfit with your car, or do you choose the car to match the outfit?’ Korra clapped her hand to her mouth in shock, ‘I didn’t mean to say that out loud, sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise, I can see how it would be easy to assume that someone with my wealth would have a whole fleet of cars but Merlot is my only car but I do have a 2009 Sato Chief Standard.’ Asami was looking pretty please with her herself but Korra what left feeling a little confused, which was obviously written all over her face because Asami explained, ‘It’s a motorcycle. You know it’s kind of refreshing talking to someone who knows nothing about cars and bikes, so many people try to show off how much they know and it becomes rather boring quite fast.’ 

‘I wouldn’t say I know nothing, I do have a driver’s licence but when it comes to anything under the hood I’m lost.’ Asami let out a soft chuckle and have Korra an appreciative smile. 

‘Hop in,’ Asami offered as she held the passenger side door open, ‘and no, I don’t coordinate my wardrobe with my car, or bike for the matter, but, as I’ve told you, red is my favourite colour, so it does happen from time to time.’ Asami walked around the car and took her place behind the wheel, ‘Buckle up.’ she announced with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

 _Holy Shit she can drive,_ was all Korra could think as Asami expertly manoeuvred the vehicle in and around traffic. The sound of the engine roared in Korra’s ears and she could hear anything else, which put any ideas about conversation out of her head. A thrilling 15 minutes later (what usually took Korra half an hour by train) they were pulling into a car spot just outside Avatar Park. With the engine now shut off Korra could hear her heart pounding in her chest, or was it the blood throbbing through her ears that she could hear? As she climbed out of the car she almost lost her legs beneath her. ‘Careful there,’ Asami said as she moved to help prop up a slightly wobbly legged Korra, ‘I would have thought an ex Marine would have been used to the adrenaline rush of a fast ride.’

‘It’s just been awhile,’ Korra offered as she shook Asami’s off her, ‘so, what is it we are going here tonight?’ If Asami was hurt by Korra’s dismissal of her support it was only brief because her face lit up like a small child being told they can have ice-cream for breakfast. She made her way to the trunk of the car and took out a basket and blanket.

‘We are having a picnic and… the rest will have to be a surprise, follow me.’ With the blanket tucked securely under her arm and the basked in one hand she took Korra’s in her other and guided her towards the fountain in the middle of the park, ‘come on help me set up, we’ve only got less than 5 minutes before it starts.’ 

‘Before what starts?’ 

‘Stop asking questions and come over.’ Asami was trying to position the blanket under a tree on a near by hill that had a decent overlook of the fountain. When the blanked was smoothed out Asami sat down leaning against the trunk of the tree and patted the ground next to her as an invitation for Korra to join her. As she sat down lights started to flicker on in the fountain, illuminating the streams of water. Korra was mesmerised by the motions of the water. 

‘Wow, it’s beautiful’ 

‘Just wait it’s just getting started, keep watching.’ 

As she watched the stepping-stones that rested in the rippling water started to slowly rise and fall in a wave like motion through the fountain. Korra took slight shock when small balls of flames started to randomly fire up into the sky from posts around the parameter of the water feature, the whole effect was quite breathtaking.  ‘Asami, this is amazing’ Korra was having a little trouble believing that a woman who was the heiress the largest company in the world and who presented herself as a hard as nails punk, was also this soft romantic sitting beside her. She didn’t know why she was so surprised, people often misjudged her as a hot head and unsophisticated just because she was once a Marine, so why should Asami’s situation be any different? She sat in wrapt fascination at the fountain just taking in the undulating movements and the sense of serenity it created, until her stomach interrupted with an audible growl.  

Asami gave a soft chuckle that made Korra feel both embarrassed and giddy, ‘There’s food in the basket and I didn’t know what you’d like so I went a little overboard.’ She admitted with a shy smile as Korra started examining the various containers. She was right there was a large assortment including fruit salad, Waldorf salad, fresh oysters, olives, cheese, salami, crackers, pesto chicken sandwiches and a thermos of noodles. Korra decided on the sandwiches and a soft moan escaped her lips as she took her first bite. 

‘This is delicious, where’d you get it?’ 

‘Believe it or not I do know my way around a kitchen, home economics was a compulsory subject at school but I got a taste for it (not pun intended) and even though I don’t cook much, I still find pleasure in it.’ _Smart, beautiful, honest, her soft smile does things to my insides and she can cook, I wasn’t too far off when I said ‘future wife.’_

‘Well this must be fate, because food is the way to my heart, and if all your cooking is like this sandwich you can cook for me any time you like it.’ She hoped she wasn’t being too forward and that she hadn’t scared Asami off but when she looked over at he woman a slight blush was evident on her cheeks. 

‘Well if that’s the case, you’re going to be spending a lot of time at my place and just letting you know breakfast is my speciality,’ Asami raised an eyebrow suggestively and Korra’s brain disengaged, ‘Besides that kitchen at your place didn’t even look like it had a toaster in it.’ Asami mussed. Now it was Korra’s turn to blush; her tiny two-room apartment didn’t leave much to the imagination and she was right, as far as cooking went she owned a kettle and a microwave. 

‘In my defence there are a lot of healthy take-out places near where I live.’

The rest of there mean was spent in light conversation with lots of flirting, which made Korra feel giddy. Their first date had left her feeling like she wanted to get to know Asami better and this date made her feel like there was soothing between them, that wasn’t just her being hopeful. After they both finished eating, Asami packed up the empty containers then rested back against the tree with her legs stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles and eyes closed. Korra sat and watched the resting woman, noticing the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the small locks of her hair danced in the light breeze, the way her foot taped to phantom song. _Spirits help me, this woman is too much for me._

Asami cracked one eyelid open and gave her a sideways look, ‘Stop staring and get your arse over here.’ She raised her arm up offering a spot for Korra to snuggle into, to which is was most obliging, and instantly happy she did when she felt the slight arm come to rest around her shoulders. ‘Are you familiar with the story behind the name of this park?’ 

‘Avatar? I always thought it a strange name for a park but that’s because they only context I’ve hear the word in is in relation to the digital representation of a person on the internet,’ Asami’s face looked simultaneously amused and pitying, ‘but judging from your face, it has nothing to do with that.’ 

‘You’re right, it doesn’t. The legend of the Avatar is the only piece of mythology that is common to the four nations of the world.’ Korra tucked her head back into Asami’s shoulder and listened to the story. ‘The Avatar was believed to be the human incarnation of a spirit and was said to be able to control and manipulate the elements at their will and who’s duty it was to keep harmony in the world. Some of the stories tell of conjuring tsunamis wiping out whole navel fleets, others detail the being manipulating the lava from an erupting volcano away from whole cities in order to save them. All the stories are quite interesting. It is believed that Republic City was founded by the Avatar as a safe haven for those who were unfairly persecuted in their hometown, whether it be for radical (yet revolutionary) ideas, or simply sexual preference. They say that it was designed to be a utopia but instead ended up as the most technologically, politically and socially advanced city on the planet. Artists and inventors alike thrive in this city that essentially started out as a bohemian community that embraced the sciences as much as the arts. That’s what the fountain is supposed to pay tribute to, technology and artistic vision unifying to represent the elemental manipulation of the Avatar.’

‘You seem very knowledgeable on the subject.’ She quipped.

‘My mother designed it and my father built it for her. Mum used to read the stories of the Avatar to me as bedtime stories and I’d wall asleep dreaming about building ice mazes or gliding on air currents.’ Korra could see a far off dreamy look on her face and she felt like she is intruding on a personal thought. After a few minutes of comfortable silence Korra turned her head up and invitingly nudged her nose against Asami’s jaw. Asami turned her gaze to meet hers and Korra watched as brilliant jade eyes flitted between her lips and eyes, she felt her breath hitch as Asami closed her eyes and leaned forward, she closed her own eyes and wet her lips in anticipation as the sound of a car backfiring ripped her away from, the park, away from Asami and dumped her naked, strapped to a chair in a makeshift interrogation room with an IV in her arm and a bald man leering overtop of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, sorry about the ending, I debated with myself about wether or not I was going to end it there or not but when I realised I'd already written 3k words I figured the next bit would have to wait or Asami's POV. 
> 
> Second, in this AU there is no bending.
> 
> Third, the Fire Ferrets are an 80's punk band, Think The Clash. (I did originally have Asami in a London Calling shirt)
> 
> Forth, the bike Asami talks about is actually a 2009 Indian Chief Standard. 
> 
> As always let me know what you think or what you would like to see more/less of in this story.
> 
> Sorry about typos.


	6. The morning after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami deals with her own demons when Korra notices that not all is as it seems.

Had Asami been anyone else but herself, she wouldn’t have known what was happening to Korra but she had her own personal experiences to draw upon and chastised herself for not having picked up on the signs earlier. Asami sat with her and placed her own jacket around the Korra’s shoulders. She noticed how Korra looked so small curled in on herself and it made her feel protective of the woman. They sat there next to each other for near on half an hour while Asami kept checking for any signs of recognition in those once startling blue eyes that were now no more than grey blank orbs. Asami didn’t know what ghosts haunted Korra but she could guess that there were true horrors this woman had faced.q 

When Korra’s eyes finally found hers she moved cautiously in front of her and asked if she needed to be taken to the hospital, Korra simply shook her head but in a soft pleading voice had asked not to be left alone. Asami walked her back to the car and slowly drove her the few blocks back to her own apartment (Korra’s place was too far away when doing the speed limit). Once at the apartment she guided Korra up the stairs to the mezzanine bedroom. The whole trip Korra had been silent and now was no different as she unabashedly stripped, when Asami registered what Korra was going she averted her eyes, not wanting to intrude on the vulnerable woman, only turning around when the soft rustle of sheets had stoped, indicating that Korra was tucked in bed. When Asami looked back up, she saw Korra cocooned in the blanket with her fists balled in the sheets and a pained expression on her face. Asami sat on the edge of the bed to remove her boots then made her way up the bed to lie on top on the sheets next to the broken woman.

That’s where they were now. Asami knew that Korra was still awake by her haphazard breathing, so the offered her comfort in the only way she could, by being there for her and gently rubbing circles into her back through the blanket. She cursed in her head the people who had been responsible for whatever had caused this degree of trauma in Korra. Asami had given up trying to ignore the depth of the feelings she had for the woman because right now she knew that this wasn’t just some physical attraction because that wouldn’t have caused her protective feelings to manifest themselves like they had. After a time Asami started to softly coo, ‘shhhhh, it’s okay Korra, you’re safe, nothing here is going to hurt you, I promise.’ She repeated this over and over and eventually when Korra’s breathing evened out, indicating that she was asleep, she let herself fall into sleep as well.

\--- 

The sharp morning sunlight pierced her eyelids and she rolled over with a grown, she’d forgotten how evil the mornings where in this place. As she opened her eyes she noticed the empty space next to her and also that she was under the covers. _Shit, I really hope that I didn’t try anything in my sleep last night, cause that would just be wrong._ As the rest of her senses started to awaken she could smell the distinct sent of coffee and could also hear a soft grunting noise coming from downstairs. As she made her way down the stairs she caught sight of Korra, in a pair of her sweats and a tank top, doing push ups.  As she reached the last step it gave a loud ‘creak’ which alerted Korra to the fact she was awake, at which point she jumped up into standing position and offered her the shy lopsided grin that she found irresistible.

‘I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed some of your clothes, it’s just that I have a morning routine and as I couldn’t go for a run without being able to get back in, I figured that I could at lease do a little of my conditioning training. And I didn’t want to just leave because I feel like I owe you an explanation about last night, and I’m sorry if I freaked you out or if I made you feel uncomfortable. When I woke up this morning, well, not wearing much of anything, I figured I must have gone into autopilot when I saw the bed, and that must have been embarrassing for you. But when I woke up I tucked you in because you looked so peaceful and I wanted to do something nice for you because you took care of me last night and I also made you coffee, and did you know that your cupboards are bare, and please say something, anything, because I ramble when I’m nervous, and you’re looking at me like I’m a wounded cat deer.’

 _Oh where to start?_ This girl was simultaneously the sweetest person she’d ever met and quite possibly the most damaged, she felt the need to make woman feel as special as she could.

‘First, don’t worry about the clothes, it’s fine. Second, you don’t owe me explanation, if you want to talk about it, that’s one thing but please don’t feel like you need to tell me anything that you don’t want to. Third, you have nothing to apologise for, you had to do what ever you needed to in order to feels safe and there is nothing wrong with that. And fourth and lastly, thank you for tucking me in and coffee is always appreciated.’ She smiled at Korra and the woman beamed back at her, Asami noticed that here eyes weren’t back to their usual vibrancy but they weren’t cold grey either, they were more of a soft sky blue, so that was something. ‘So, do you have any plans for today?’

Korra looked to the floor and toed it with her foot, ‘I don’t have any plans, but… and I know I’ve already imposed on you enough… but I don’t want to be alone, do you mind if I hang out with you today?’ she asked shyly then quickly followed with, ‘But if you have other things organised for today, I completely understand, I can just head home.’

‘Korra, stop stressing; of course we can hang out today, you can stay as long as you want. Now, why don’t you go upstairs and have a shower, you’ll find a clean towel under the sink and I’ll find you some clothes to wear, then I’m going to take you out for breakfast.’

‘You don’t have to take me out for breakfast.’ 

‘Actually I do, because I’m going to need some food soon and there isn’t any in this apartment.’ She admitted. 

‘Yeah I noticed that, and all these packing boxes,’ Korra indicated to the room at large with her arms, ‘have you just moved in or something?’

‘I’ve owned this place for about 10 years now and while it is my legal residence, I don’t actually live here. I did for a few months when I first returned to the city after university but these days I sleep on a cot in my office. I only come here to do laundry and when I need a safe space away from work, which is why the only things in the cupboard are coffee and single malt fire whiskey and the ingredients for dinner last night.’

Korra gave worried her brow and gave a sigh, ‘Is work really that demanding of your time? I know you said during the week that you had a couple of all nighters to fill, but 10 years worth of them seems a little extreme.’

Feeling slightly defensive she blurted out ‘I like work.’ Korra looked even more worried, like she was scarred she’d said the wrong thing, then the truth of it settled in Asami’s chest, she hadn’t planed on having this conversation at 7 o’clock in the morning but she felt like she needed to be honest with Korra, besides she felt ashamed of her outburst, ‘I don’t have anything else in my life but work.’ She admitted, ‘No friends, no real hobbies.’ Even though they were small confessions she felt like she could breath easier, like there had been a clamp around her chest and someone just loosened it. She’d forgotten what it was like to talk to someone about her most closely kept secrets and as the feeling of relief flooded over her, so did the words from her mouth, ‘I love Hiroshi but I just keep hoping that if I work hard enough and impress him that he’ll love me too.’ She didn’t know when the tears had crept into her eyes nor did she know that this was the motivation behind her work ethic, but as soon as the words were past her lips she knew them to be true. Korra rushed to her and embraced her with strong arms.

‘shhh, hey, hey, hey, don’t cry, I’m sure your father loves you, you’re his daughter, he’s kind if obligated to love you and if he doesn’t, then that’s his problem not yours because you are amazing and any father would be lucky to have you as his daughter. ’ She paused and took a deep breath, ‘I mean, I feel pretty privileged to be able to call you my friend, or whatever we are, so if he’s too blind to notice how remarkable you are, then I suggest that you find yourself a new family.’ Korra was stroking her back and it felt so nice and reassuring, that it made the next words out of her mouth that much easier to say, because these were words she’d never shared with anyone before.

‘He’s ashamed of what I am; he called me an abomination to my face. We reached a stale mate in our situation early on, I can’t expose him for his double standard nor can he disown me publically both for the same reason, it would ruin his company, which will one day be my company. We feud in private mostly, or we did feud. When I stopped dating altogether he commented that I should find myself a good man, that he wanted grandchildren one day, so I told him, that if he couldn’t accept me dating women I wasn’t going to date men either. We haven’t spoken about my private life since, everything between us is strictly business these days.’

Korra pulled away from Asami just enough that they could look at each other’s face. Asami watched as Korra lifted her thumb and wiped away some of the tears from her face. ‘What Made you change your mind about dating? Why me?’ she asked with a soft voice.

‘It’s not that I changed my mind, it’s just that not dating became habitual, it wasn’t something that I did. But you caught me off guard with your charm and your warmth and that adorable lopsided smile and I forgot all my past promises to myself and I don’t regret a second of it.’ She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to Korra’s, ‘I really like you.’ She whispered

‘I’m glad to hear it because I really like you too. Your father is an arse don’t worry about him’

After that emotionally draining conversation Asami didn’t feel like going out for breakfast anymore. ‘I’ll tell you what, let’s just forget about all our respective shit for today. I am going to go to the corner store and pick up some food then we are not going to leave this apartment for the whole day. While I am gone, you go through the boxes and find us something to do for the day. How does that sound?’ she held her breath and waited for the response. 

‘Just so long as you pick up some apple juice, I don’t care what else happens.’

Asami lifted her head and kissed Korra on the forehead. ‘While I’m out can you make me another cup of coffee? Because I think the last one has gone cold by now.’

‘Of course.’ Korra smiled back at her.

She ran back upstairs and put on her boots and picked up her wallet. Then on her way out the door she called over her shoulder, ‘I’ll be back in 10.’ As she closed the door behind her she though to herself, _I don’t know how two broken people such as Korra and I found each other but we might just be what the other needs._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always appreciate comments. 
> 
> Again Asami's POV is easier to write than Korra's, so it might be a little bit of a wait until the next chapter.
> 
> Let me know what you do or don't like, I'm flexible about these things.


	7. Daytime activities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami spend the day together in Asami's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Back. 
> 
> Not too much has changed, I just rewrote bits and pieces that I had rushed and removed bits that made it too wordy. so it's not essential that you re read the chapter but you can if you want.

The past 12 hours were starting to take their toll on Korra and even though Asami’s soothing presence had meant that she had a restful sleep, she still felt like she’d just returned from war. She decided that deviating from her morning routine for one morning wasn’t such a bad idea, as she needed a minute to process the events of last night and this morning. She sat down just like Tenzin had taught her and took a meditative position.

_List the things that have happened:_

  *       _Asami drove really fast last night, which also involved a lot of weaving though traffic but I held it together. The park, the dinner and Asami were amazing and relaxing._
  *       _I heard a sudden loud noise, which triggered an episode._
  *       _Asami looked after me, she didn’t freak out, she was gentle and patient._
  *       _I slept through the night and woke up to Asami spooning me; her arm over me and the blanket holding me tight in my cocoon, it felt warm._
  *       _I freaked out a little when I realised that I was only dressed in my underpants but the familiarity of morning exercise calmed me._
  *       _I tried to apologise to Asami but she said all the right things and didn’t make me feel ashamed like I usually do after an episode._
  *       _I might have said the wrong thing to Asami and she broke down._
  *       _I tried to comfort her, I’m not sure if I did any good but she doesn’t appear to be mad at me, maybe I didn’t say thing wrong thing, I think she needed to let those things out, I don’t think she has anyone in her life to talk to. For a woman so rich in warmth and spirit, it’s a shame the world has not afforded her the life she deserves. Her dad is an asshole._



After each was listed off, she took a deep breath, let the information wash over her and as she let the breath do she let the anger and guilt and embarrassment go. Korra concluded her reflection my promising herself that she was going to call her parents tonight because she needed to let them know how much she appreciated their love and support.

Korra took her time to look around Asami’s apartment. The whole thing was spacious; it would hold about eight of her apartment and looked like it had once been an old power station. The first floor was one large open room that had exposed brick walls and floor to ceiling (two story ceiling) windows along the southern facing wall. Against the eastern wall was a large modern kitchen, with black marble bench tops, and a whole swag of appliances (she didn’t have the first clue what they did but they looked fancy) the only one of which she knew was the pod machine for coffee (she also noticed that Asami had left the coffee she made on the bench). Korra took a guess that Asami had designed the kitchen as well as the mezzanine level that was home to the bedroom and bathroom, which ran the length of eastern wall.

The remainder of the downstairs area was littered with two different types of boxes, one lot were all clearly labelled with category and contents, she looked at one box and read, ‘Textbooks’ and after it was a list of titles that looked more like something she would have expected to find on the shelves of someone who was a physicist and not an Industrial designer. It made her wonder if these books were Asami’s idea of recreational reading and if so just how smart was this woman? The other boxes were not labelled and looked tattered and worn.

Korra made her way back upstairs to the bedroom, she knew that Asami would be home soon but she really wanted to take up the offer of a shower. The bathroom was separated from the bedroom by a wall of frosted glass, that when she walked in front of it the sliding door in it automatically opened. The bathroom was much of what she had expected from the rest of the apartment, huge, it was large enough for her to live in. The room was a modern style wet room, the floor and two walls were nonslip stone tiles and the wall that was shared with the edge of the mezzanine was glass that was only frosted from shoulder height down, so you could still look our through the main windows of the apartment. The amenities were quite breathe taking, opposite the door was a double vanity with a granite top and dark wood cabinets underneath. In the corner sat a large (two person large) wrought iron claw footed bath. Against the wall that was shared with the bedroom was a wooden bench seat.

She removed her clothes (well Asami’s clothes) and left them on the chair. When Korra looked around for the shower it wasn’t immediately obvious but then she noticed the taps on the large tiles wall then looked up, there she observed that about half the ceiling was comprised of one giant shower head, next to the taps was a small alcove that contained body wash as well as other personal cleaning products. When Korra tuned on the taps she immediately felt like she was standing out in the middle of the warm summer rain, the sensation was a little unnerving at first but it was entirely sensual and enjoyable. The soft water pressure made it feel like the droplets were dancing on her skin, she closed her eyes and let out a soft moan as she lost herself to the majesty of it all. _This might just be the best shower I’ve ever had._

‘I see you found the shower’ Korra snapped back to reality and quickly tried to cover herself with her arms as she looked around the room for the source of the voice. Then she heard Asami’s voice again, ‘There’s an intercom by the vanity, just press the button to talk. I’m down in the kitchen.’

She made her way out from under the stream of water and over to the vanity where the intercom device was. ‘Yeah, I needed one after last night and my exercise this morning. By the way your shower is orgasmic.’

‘I hope you’re talking figuratively, but it can be literally orgasmic when you share it with someone, but all in good time.’ She paused and Korra was at a slight loss for words at the full. ‘Right now I’m going to cook us up some bacon and eggs for breakfast. How do you take your eggs?’

‘Can you do poached? And crispy bacon?’

‘Coming right up, they’ll be ready for you when you finish your shower. Oh and help yourself to some comfy clothes I don’t think either of us are in the mood for leaving the apartment today, so we might as well be comfortable.’

‘Thanks’

 ---

After her shower Korra found another pair of sweat pants in Asami’s draws as well as a U.B.S.S. running tank to wear, then she made her way down to the kitchen. Where Asami was transferring the bacon from the pan to a plate on the island bench.

‘Mmmm, that smells so good.’

‘I told you that I could cook,’ Asami replied with a cheeky grin on her face.

Korra sat down and took a bite of the food Asami had prepared for her. ‘and it tastes good too. If I had the money I would hire you as my personal chef.’ She said after swallowing a large mouth full of food. Asami let out a soft laugh and Korra flushed realising how goofy she must be coming across.

‘Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll keep my current job. You enjoy the food and I’ll be right back after a shower of my own. I can only imagine how bad I smell, I’m still wearing my clothes from last night.’ And with that she quickly ducked up stairs.

 ---

After Korra had finished eating she started poking around in some of the boxes in the room, until she came across one that she thought might keep them entertained for a little while. She picked up the box then moved it to the centre of the room where there was plenty of space, then sat and waited. She hoped that she wasn’t overstaying her welcome, it was just that even though she was well practiced at pushing everything down and acting normal, having someone else around made it that much harder for her to submit to the abyss. Asami seemed like part of her needed this as well, she wondered how long it had been since the woman had really talked to someone about all the things she was keeping inside, how long it had been since she had spent a day not focused on work.

\--- 

Few minutes later Asami returned wearing red plaid PJ pants and a white tank with her hair carefully braided down her back. ‘So what have you found?’ she asked while giving the box next to Korra a questioning look.

‘Paint.’ Asami raised an eyebrow at her, ‘After… when everything first happed, one of the therapies they got me to do was painting, I was never very good at it but I enjoyed it none the less.’ She looked to Asami who giving her a knowing nod.

‘So what are we painting?’ as asked as she sat down on the floor next to Korra.

‘I was thinking that we could do a portrait of each other, you’ve got a couple of blank canvases in there and a heap of paint and brushed, I thought it might be fun and silly.’

‘Okay’

 ---

They spent the next few minutes divvying up the supplies and set to work. Korra knew she always looked serious during things that were meant to be relaxing so she wasn’t surprised when Asami started laughing at her, Asami however looked serine, like this was her natural state of being. After about half an hour of quiet painting, Korra decided that some conversation was in order. She looked up from her canvas and cleared her throat to get the other woman’s attention. ‘So, the living area’s of this place, are they something you contributed to?’

Asami looked up at her. ‘Yeah, the few months I lived here I spent having the place fixed up. I really wanted it to be somewhere that I would want to live.’

Korra had a few other questions, she was a curious being, but even she knew that this next one was non of her business but she asked it anyway ‘Anyone share this place with you? Cause that bathroom looks like it was built for two, that and your comment earlier…’

Asami cut her off with an amused look, ‘If I said yes, would you be jealous?’ Korra gawked for a second not sure how to respond, Asami looked even more amused, ‘I’m only teasing. No one else but me lived here, I had one or two night-time callers, but that’s it. At the time I planed on living here forever and I didn’t intended to spend my life alone (I still don’t) so I designed it to accommodate a couple.’

‘Oh, that makes sense.’ Asami stuck the end of her brush into the weave of her braid so both her hands were free, then got up and walked over to where Korra was sitting, ‘Hey, no peeking it’s not finis…’ Korra cut herself off short because Asami was now straddling her lap and had both hands on her shoulders with her eyes fixed on hers.

‘Korra, what are we doing here?’ her voice wasn’t pleading, but there was a tone of need in it, ‘I like you, probably more than I should considering we only met this week and I know you have feelings for me but all the flirting with no results is making me incredibly frustrated.’ the last word coming out as a soft growl that filled Korra with want. Her mind was going faster than she could latch on to any particular thought, she watched as Asami’s eye’s stared unwavering at her own. Korra wanted to tell this woman that she liked her a lot as well, she had also spent too much time thinking without giving her a response. She looked down to avert her eyes and immediately regretted it because she is now looking directly down Asami’s cleavage. Blood rushed to different parts of her body, which caused some parts to blush and others to throb. As she looked up at Asami she felt the red flush across her face. Asami was breathing heavily and her . Korra pitched her chin up so her mouth was a hair’s breadth from Asami’s ‘Kiss me.’

Apparently that was all the permission she needed their mouths met and it wasn’t the soft and delicate thing first kisses usually were, it was hard and passionate, their mouths moved against the other, neither pushing or yielding. As Asami’s tongue slipped into her mouth she felt a moan deep in her throat and all conscience thought left her. One of Asami’s hands slid down her arm that left a tingling sensation its wake. They eventual broke apart panting, ‘Wow.’

Asami looked down at her and giggled, ‘Now that we have that out of the way, I’m getting back to my painting.’ She stood up leaving Korra feeling like someone had unceremoniously pushed her naked out into the snow, she needed the other woman’s warmth against her but as watched as Asami walked back over to her abandoned painting she knew she wasn’t coming back over. Asami at down extracting the brush from her hair in the process then resumed painting. Korra knew her face was doing the vacant staring thing again but she didn’t really care because, _Wow, that really just happened,_ and she didn’t think she was going to be over it any time soon.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to entertain the Idea of adding in some smut (I've never written any before so i'm not convinced) Opinions???)
> 
> Anyone pick up on my Harry Potter reference?
> 
> Please comment, let me know what you like, what you don't like, what you would like to see more of, what you would like to see less of, if you would like me to use the word 'like' less :-p


	8. Unpacking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra is away and Asami spends time reflecting on her past what is missing in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, I made myself cry writing this chapter, it's sad.
> 
> Also if you haven't read chapter 7 recently I've rewritten it with only minor changes, but it should hopefully have a better flow now
> 
> This chapter is shorter than the last few have been but I hope you like it all the same.

It was the first time that Asami had been on the train since she had met Korra two weeks ago and she was enjoying the simple rhythm of the wheels on the track, it was a soothing sound track to think to. The past week felt like she’d been living someone else’s life, a life that was filled with, laughs, smiles, soft caresses and most importantly, kisses. Since the picnic in the park the two of them hadn’t gone a day without seeing each other. Most days they would have either lunch or dinner together (sometimes both) and they had spent the weekend shopping for furniture.

Korra had insisted, that for Asami’s own benefit, she should actually live in the apartment she owned and that if she was going to do that then she needed furniture and a sound system, and wifi. Shopping with Korra had been fun, the woman had a child like enthusiasm about most things, which was evident in the way she had insisted on jumping on all the couches until the found the one with the ‘best spring’ as she had put it. Then the following day when the couch was delivered Korra had moved the couch to every possible position in the apartment tyring to find the spot that gave Asami the ‘best natural lighting’ she’d said giving a comical impersonation of home makeover presenter, she couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

The two of them seemed to have formed the unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t push their relationship too far while the wounds from the other night were still visible. Asami had caught the distant look of emptiness in Korra’s eyes on more than one occasion and she knew that she herself had been lost to contemplation about situation with Hiroshi a few times as well. In a way it was good for both of them she guessed they were helping each other not give in to the horrors of the past.

Today was the first day that she wasn’t going to get to see Korra as the woman was booked in to give a weeklong seminar in Omashu. Korra had promised to video call her every night so that they got to see each other but Asami had the sneaking suspicion that it was to make sure that she was at the apartment and not at work, but she didn’t mind, it felt nice to have someone care enough about her to check up on her.

 ---

Asami spent most of her evenings unpacking boxes and assembling flat pack bookshelves along one of the brick walls. She’d also carefully constructed a stack of empty boxes to set the scene for the video calls from Korra, she wanted her fully set up apartment to be a surprise for the woman when she returned home on Friday. _Home_ , Korra had only spent the one night at her place, but it wasn’t the apartment that Asami was calling home, it was her embrace. To Asami, Korra felt like family, like a sister she never had, who she could tell all her secrets to, well not exactly like a sister, there were things she wanted to do to the tan beauty that she was certain sisters didn’t do to each other.

Unpacking boxes was mostly and easy job, it all depended on the box. All the ones that she’d brought with her from Ba Sing Se were labelled so she knew which ones needed to be unpacked and which were to go into storage without opening them, it was the unlabelled ones that were difficult. When she had told Hiroshi that she had found a place of her own and wouldn’t be moving back into the mansion, he had packed up some of her things and sent them over via courier. She couldn’t imagine what was in them, as she knew she didn’t have any personal item there, so she’d never thought to open them, but now she needed them out of her living room and she felt obliged to check their content before dismissing them all into storage.

Most of the boxes were filled with stuffed ties from when she was as little girl, most of which she decided were for the charity bin, but she held onto her favourite fluffy fire ferret (she laughed at the fact that the Fire Ferrets turned out to be the name of her favourite band). One of boxes contained the gas powered remote control car that Hiroshi had bought for her when she was seven. It was the first holiday home from boarding school and he had decided that it was time she learnt about cars. He gave it to her as a kit that she had to assemble herself, and while it had only a single cylinder engine, it had been very informative and had sparked her curiosity in cars and Hiroshi’s business. She placed the car on the bookshelf next to her scale models of various science displays (it had been far too long since she had placed her Stirling Engine on top of her cup of coffee just to watch it spin) and went to unpack the last box.

The moment she opened the box, she knew it was different. The smell that wafted out of it wasn’t the smell of her former bedroom, but a delicate jasmine smell with a hint of coconut, it was a smell that caused the tears to instantly prick her eyes, as she stared down at the contents that could only belong to her mother. The first item she pulled out of the box was here mother’s favourite recorded, Asami made her way over to were she had set up her turntable and set the record playing. The soft sounds of soft swing escaped the speakers; a playful mix of mix of woodwind and percussion serenaded her as she returned to the box of her mother’s possessions. She remembered dancing with her mother to the songs, she would spin her and lift her up and twirl her around the library, both of them laughing and smiling until the collapsed on the floor. The memories of her mother didn’t hurt anymore but they did still leave an ache in her chest that she would never get to know her mother as a person and not just her mother and that her mother would never get to see her on her wedding day. She missed the things she would never have.

Asami wiped the tears from her eyes draw her attention back to the box in front of her. The next item was a jewellery box, full of her mother’s most prized pieces, including the single row of knotted pearls that her mother had told her would be a present to her on her wedding day. She fingered each individual iridescent bead and remembered how they shone against her mother’s neck. A photo album was the next time to be removed from the box and Asami flipped through pages of he own baby photos and pictures taken on family holidays and picnics and birthday parties, all happy faces shining up at her, oblivious to the tragic events of the future.

The last item in the box was probably the most precious to her, she took a hold of her mother’s journal in one hand and clasped it to her chest. She remembered her mother sitting in the library writing and drawing in her journal, but whenever Asami tried to sneak a peek over her mother’s shoulder, she would slam it shut and call her a ‘sticky beak’. She didn’t feel right looking at it now, not while she was so emotionally raw so she picked it up along with the jewellery box and photo album and deposited them into the draw of her bedside table.

Back downstairs she retrieved her phone from where it sat next to her keys on the kitchen bench along with the bottle of fire whiskey from the cupboard. When she reached the living room she moved the needle of the turntable back to the beginning and sat down on the couch. She sent through two messages. The first one to her team letting them know that she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be in tomorrow and the second through to Korra.

 **Asami (20:38): -** I’m having an early night tonight, I need to catch up on my beauty sleep. I promise I’m at my apartment. I wish you were here, I could really do with a hug. Good night.

She hadn’t lied to work exactly, because her plans for the rest of tonight would lave her quite ill tomorrow. And as for her message to Korra, she didn’t want to worry her with her problems while she was away. With that she popped the cork from the whiskey and took a swig, she could feel the warming familiar burn down her throat and relished in it. She lay there on the couch for a while taking swigs from the bottle and letting the music wash over her. The drink was hitting her hard and making her sleepy and just as her heavy lids were about to close her phone buzzed with a message.

 **Korra (22:56): -** I don’t believe that YOU need beauty sleep but sweet dreams anyway. I’ll be home in two day and then you can have all the hugs you want. I miss you Sweety.

And with that she passed out thinking, _she called me Sweety._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos, comment, critique!!!  
> all of the above, none of the above. 
> 
> The musician that Asami is listening to it is Artie Shaw, from the Kings of clarinet collection. 
> 
> I decided that I probably won't do smut in this story, but I am working on an angsty smutting one-shot that I will get posted next week. 
> 
> I hope your enjoying this because I really enjoy filling in Asami's backstory (even if this is an AU, parallels and be drawn)


	9. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra Arrives home from her trip to Omashu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update has taken so long, Uni had been a little hectic. I'm not sure when I'll get aother chapter out but please note that I have not abandoned it. 
> 
> I know this chapter is a little on the short side but I needed it for 'reasons'.

The train ride home was Korra’s favourite part of her trip to Omashu. She’d spent the week giving talks at one of the prestigious high schools and, as usual, it meant that she’d fielded questions like, _Have you ever killed anyone?_ and, _How did you discover that you were gay?_ She didn’t mind answering the second question, she liked being able to give guidance to queer youth but she had real problems with teenagers romanticising war and death. Over the past year she’d learnt that the easiest way to deal with questions about her time in the Marines was the remind the students that she was there to motivate the students, not to tell war stories, but the experience was still draining.

She sat and watched the landscapes pass by the window and was grateful that she’d booked the ‘Coastal Line’ home and not the ‘Secret Tunnel Line’, this way she was able to watch the water and the mountains as they rolled by. Despite all the travel she’d done in the Marines, being cramped in the hull of a military plane never gave her the opportunity to fully appreciate how beautiful the Earth Kingdom was, _it’s hard to see the sights when you’re being held captive in an underground bunker y a mad man._

Remembering her past traumas was getting easier for Korra. She found that when she consciously chose to reflect on them, it was easier to calm the anxiety that swelled inside then when external events triggered flashbacks. Dr Tenzin had always insisted that she try to talk about what had happened and every time she’d rejected the suggestion by reminding him, ‘ _You have my personnel file which details the whole incident so you don’t need me telling you, when you already know.’_ She knew that that wasn’t the point, but she couldn’t vocalise what she’d been through. Things were changing though, she was beginning to think she could talk about it, the other week she had offered to explain episode to Asami and even though she was grateful when she had declined the offer, if she hadn’t declined she would have at least tried to explain.

She glanced down at her watch and noted that she only had an hour left of travel, at least the trip wasn’t too long and she would get into Republic City at a reasonable hour. Asami had even offered to pick her up from the station and take her home. _Asami, I can’t remember how I made it through these weeklong bookings before her._ Their evening conversations broke up the monotony of listening to herself talk. She enjoyed listening to Asami ramble about work and that light in her eyes when she was excited about a new innovative engine design made Korra’s heart flutter with pride. _She really is something special._ Korra knew she’d been a bit pushy about the whole ‘don’t let work dominate your life’ thing but Asami deserved to have a normal life and she didn’t appear to be holding it against Korra, in fact, she seemed relieved that someone was taking a person interest in her wellbeing. _If that is the case, I’m glade that I’m helping._

_\---_

Korra’s train puled into the station a little after 7pm just as the sunset turning the sky a pale shade blue and the clouds were illuminated in hues of pink and purple. Korra collected her duffel bag from the overhead rack and slung it over her shoulder then made her way out onto the platform. Her eyes scanned the crowed of people milling around either waiting either for loved ones to arrive home or trains to whisk them away, it didn’t take her too long to spot her loner of a girlfriend leaning against a pillar at the doorway to the station proper. Asami’s eyes were locked on her and they didn’t move from her as she made her way to where she waited. Korra couldn’t stop herself from grinning like an idiot, and the closer she got the larger her grin got. As she made her approach she gave Asami a wink and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

‘My girlfriend is supposed to be picking me up but she’d not as sexy as you, so why don’t you and I get out of here before she shows up?’

She took a step back and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively while flashing her heart winning lopsided smile.

Asami just let out a half hearted laugh and replied, ‘You are such a dork.’ before she threw her arms around Korra and pulled her into a tight hug, ‘I missed you.’

Korra relaxed into the hug and relishing the comfort of Asami’s embrace, ‘I missed you too,’ she replied as her turned her face to plant a kiss on Asami’s cheek. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’

\---

As Asami pulled into the driveway of the apartment complex Korra directed her to the parking space that was allotted to her apartment. When she’d moved in the landlord had given her the option of reduced rent if she wanted to forgo holding the parking space, but she declined the offer. She often toyed with the idea of buying a car but for the moment the space was handy for hanging up her punching bag for the days she needed to let off steam. Once the car was parked she clicked off her seatbelt and vaulted over the car door.

‘Someone’s a regular ball of energy.’ Asami remarked from under her raised eyebrow.

Korra felt the flush burn on her cheeks and she toed the ground and looked down as she realised how impulsive the action was, ‘What?’ she asked chewing her bottom lip, ‘I’ve been cooped up on a train for the past three hours, I’ve got pent-up energy.’ She looked up at Asami and gave her, what she hoped, was her best suggestive smile.

‘Well then, I can certainly think of better ways of releasing that energy then jumping out of Merlot. How about you go unlock the door and I’ll grab you bag from the trunk.’

‘Deal.’

Korra practically ran with excitement to the back entrance of the complex. Her and Asami hadn’t progressed their relationship passed kissing, sure they’d gotten a little handsy, but they she was sure they both knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and Korra hoped it was sooner. She gallantly held the door open for Asami then run up the flight of stair to the first floor so she could unlock her front door. As soon as she made it to the top of the stairs she knew something was wrong and stopped abruptly in her tracks. Asami bumped into her causing her to stumble slightly.

‘Hey, what’s wr…’ Asami started but Korra cut her off by bringing a finger to her lips motioning for her to be quiet.

She stood at the end of the hallway and listened, there were only three apartments on her level, hers at the end, then the vacant one in the middle that was uninhabitable and the one with the piano teacher that was closest to where they stood. Korra could hear soft sounds of clair de lunecoming from her neighbour’s apartment but she could also hear the distinct sounds of conversation coming from her own. Her heart started to pound in her ears and she forced herself to steady her breathing and her rapidly racing mind, _Think Korra, think, what loose ends were left? Who has the means to track down this address? It’s no secret that I’m in Republic City, maybe someone from the Earth Kingdom? Surely I would have been informed if Kuvira had escaped, maybe a loyalist?_ As she narrowed down the options in her head she motioned for Asami to stay where she was and made her why down the hall.

When Korra was only a few paces from her door she made the instinctual motion for her side arm, only to grasp at nothing, _I’m a civilian now, no gun, I’m going to have to do this the hard way._ She took another step closer and listened at the door. _I know those voices, Who the fuck would be in my apartment watching Nuktuk?_ She didn’t have to wonder too much longer as the door was yanked open in front of her the reveal the silhouette of a strong bulky man grinning from ear to ear.

_Bolin._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, what you think i can do to make it better. 
> 
> All comments welcome and encouraged.


	10. Time spent alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami spends some time alone thinking about the people she loves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not Sorry. You'll notice I changed the rating on the story up to E, whoops!
> 
> I hadn't expected to pump this chapter out so quick but I couldn't stop writing it in my head and I really need to consintrate on other things at the moment so I wrote it out to get it out. 
> 
> I apologise if there are typos and grammar & spelling errors, I really needed to get this out.

When Korra had signalled that all was clear, Asami made her way into Korra’s apartment. After formal introductions were made (and Bolin had finished acting like a star struck idiot at meting ‘The Asami Sato’) she excused herself so that the two friends could spend some time catching up, although from the look Korra was giving Bolin, he might not live to see morning. Upon leaving Korra gave her a quick kiss and promised that they were still on for their date the following evening.

By the time Asami made it back to her apartment is was a little after 8:30pm and she considered what she was going to do for the rest of the evening. She’d spent most nights this week video calling Korra, but that wasn’t an option for tonight, so the next best thing was spending some time pampering herself. She made her way up to her bathroom and stripped off, she undid her hair from where it was perched in a bun on her head and turned the shower on. She adjusted the taps until the water was not too scalding but hot enough to relax her muscles. She retrieved her body wash and made a soapy lather to wash herself with.

As she gently ran her hands over her body, she imagined what it would be like to caress Korra’s body. She couldn’t deny that had Korra’s friend not unexpectedly shown up that she would presently be exploring the tan woman’s body with her hands, mouth and eyes. Asami felt herself getting worked up over the idea and her whole body shivered with arousal. She took her own ample breasts in her hands and pinched her nipples wondering what sort of noise Korra would make, _Is moaner? Would she gasp? Is she the quiet type who bites her lip and screams with her eyes?_ The thoughts sent chills through her body and she broke out in goose bumps despite the heat of the shower. Asami let her hands roam her own body fanaticising that it was Korra making her feel so turned on. As her hand made it’s way to her inviting folds she couldn’t help but tease her clit. With each pass her fingers made over the sensitive nub her body gave a shudder. She braced herself against the wall with the forearm of her free arm and let the water caress her back as she ran her fingers through her dripping folds. _Spirits, if I’m this turned on just thinking about Korra imagining Korra, I hate to think what the real thing will be like._

Asami couldn’t deny her throbbing core any longer and she sank to the floor of the shower and thrust two fingers deep inside. ‘Ngahhhhh, Oh KORRA!’ The words were out of her mouth before she realised that she’d screamed, and a slight panic hit as the wondered who had heard her, until she remembered that she was in her apartment and not the shower at work and she started to curl her fingers inside. At first she curled them both at the same time, but then she alternated them, like she’d been taught to trill on the piano, and started to rub her clit with the other hand. She could feel herself getting worked up, the water hitting her sensitive nipples was keeping her on edge but she could feel her frustration getting the better of her and she wasn’t going to get any release. She knew from years of experience that she wasn’t going to come with manual stimulation alone, and usually she was fine with that, but not tonight.

She pulled her fingers from her depths are made a swift exit from the bathroom still dripping wet, to her wardrobe where she found her toy box. She retrieved the sleek black and gold vibrator and made her way back to the shower. She was so anxious to continue pleasuring herself that she fumbled with the controls but she finally got it gently vibrating and resumed her position on the floor of the shower. The return of the warm water on her skin made her shiver with anticipation as she ran the tip of the vibrator over her swollen clit. It felt so good to be able to relax her muscles and let the toy quickly bring her back to her former state of arousal. As she felt her loins moisten with a slipperiness that water alone couldn’t achieve, she worked the vibrator slowly inside and resisted the urge to come right when the clitoral stimulator made contact with her bud of nerves.

She wanted to relish the felling to getting off thinking about Korra, _Those strong muscular shoulders,_ she slowly worked the toy in and out, _That cute little mouth nibbling on my nipples_ , she increased her speed and bucked her hips with each contact with her clit, _her hands clawing down my back as she comes in my arms,_ She flipped herself over and lowered herself fully onto the vibrator with the base of it on the ground, she rocked her hips and rode the vibrator back and forth as fast as she could, ‘Oh fuck me Korra, FUCK ME HARD.’ She turned the controls all the way up and let herself come hard, harder then she ever thought possible. She collapsed on the floor of the shower coming in a shaking mess of shudders and gasps. When she came down from the height of her ecstasy, Asami removed the toy and turned it off, then continued with the rest of her shower.

\---

At 10pm that night Asami was curled up in bed but sleep wouldn’t take her. She had expected that after her amazing orgasm that she would have fallen asleep as soon as she crawled into bed but she had spent the past 45 minutes lying there staring at the roof wondering what Korra was up to. She had contemplated calling her but she didn’t want to interrupt her catching up with an old friend, so she’d just sent her a message wishing her a goodnight. Asami rolled onto her side and noticed the draw of her bedside table was slightly ajar, this reminded her that she’d deposited her prized possessions of her mother in there. She slowly sat up and turned on her lamp then retrieved her mother’s diary. Asami had always wanted to know her mother better and this was the closest thing she would ever have to talking to her in person. She leafed through the pages and noticed that the entry dates were quite sporadic and spanned close to seven years. The initial entry was just a few months before her birth. She flipped to the first entry after her birth.

_October 29 th 1986_

_I would be so lonely here in the hospital if Kiyomi hadn’t have been able to make the trip from the Fire Nation. Hiroshi spends all day and most of the night at the factory, I know he’s working hard to provide for his family but I would have thought that he would want to be around more to spend time with his daughter. I know she’s only a couple of days old but you can really see in her eyes that she loves him, I think she looks like him, she gets that strong ‘don’t fuck with me’ look in her eyes when there are too many people cooing over her, but he thinks that she has my chin and nose, I guess she won’t know whose eyes she has at least for a few days yet, but in my opinion her baby blues are bright and happy that I kind of wish that they wouldn’t change._

_She’s feeding soundly at the moment; she has the cutest little hiccup when she drinks too fast. It’s an odd sensation having a gummy mouth suckle at my breasts but it makes me feel so close to her, spirits I’m dreading her getting teeth, ouch._

Asami wiped a tear  away from her eye and continued with the next entry.

_December 19 th 1986_

_Hiroshi left today for the SWT on work, he asked if I wanted to come with him so I could enjoy the Glacier Spirits Festival that happens on the solstice but I told him that I didn’t want to subject Asami to such harsh weather at such a young age. I really don’t know what goes through that man’s mind sometimes. Kiyomi has been a huge help the past two months, she’s rented an apartment a few streets away as Hiroshi won’t let her stay in one of our guest rooms. I should have never told him that her and I had a fling in college, Spirits he can be so bigoted some times, I don’t understand how he can be so caring and loving and supportive of me and my art, but at the same time be so dismissive and rude about who I am, I was hoping that he would come to accept it with time, but apparently not._

_December 26 th 1986_

_Kiyomi has been staying in the mansion with me while Hiroshi is away. She’s been a darling changing Asami’s nappies for me when I’m tired and putting her down to sleep, she’s being the father that Asami needs. Asami likes her too, her wide green eyes light up when they see her I’m so glad my two favourite girls get along. Her hair is coming in thick now, it’s so dark it’s almost black but not quite._

_I miss Hiroshi, I miss his smiles, I miss his ramblings about work, I miss the way he looks at Asami like she is the most precious thing in the world. I know when he’s in town that his not home much, but when he is trying to be a loving doting father, even if his feelings for me are ebbing._

_January 1 st 1987_

_Kiyomi kissed me last night. We stayed in and had a New Years party of our own, just the three of us. It felt nice to be kissed by someone who loves me, with need and passion, but I had to push her away. I told her to go back home, that I need to sort my marriage out. She held me while I cried myself to sleep though, her delicate hands rubbing my back, I hate how she always knows that I need, maybe I should leave Hiroshi and run away with her and Asami to the Fire Nation._

Asami had never met or heard mention of this Kiyomi person before but she figured that Hiroshi had tried to cover up any part of his wife’s life that he deemed inappropriate. Asami felt her rage for her father grow and also pity for her mother who had been left alone in a huge mansion by herself with an infant.

The next few pages were all sketches of Asami at month intervals, she saw the progression of her hair grow and the slow thinning out of her facial features and she laughed at the little pudding belly she had.

_August 10 th 1987_

_Asami is almost 8 months old and she’s not even standing up yet, Hiroshi is worried and wants to consult a specialist and I must admit I am a little worried myself, she doesn’t even seem to want to try to stand._

_September 14 th 1987_

_I don’t know why I ever worried about Asami no standing up, today she stood up and started to run without even a moments hesitation. Spirits, what am I going to do with her, she’s so fast and nimble._

Asami started laughing at that and happy tear started to spill down her cheeks.

_April 23 rd 1987_

_Asami is certainly her father’s daughter. she said her first word today it was ‘Satocycle’ she said it with such conviction pointing at the model bike in the library shelves. Hiroshi had been reading a heavy engineering text at the time and he dropped it on his foot in shock. Asami and I both laughed at that. She’s the only thing these days that does bring me joy, Hiroshi has been neglecting my needs and I feel like an unattractive hag that’s served her purpose of supplying him with an heir. I would leave him, if I didn’t love him so much, he has so much vision for the future and the way he loves his daughter is something to be admired._

_July 5 th 1991_

_My little girl is growing up so fast. Her dark hair is halfway down her back and she refuses to let me cut it. There was a picture in the newspaper today of the new Chief of the SWT and his family and Asami pointed to the little girl in the photo and said that she was pretty. I hope for her sake that she doesn’t end up like me, I don’t want her to lose the love of her father who loves her so much. The two of them are so close. Hiroshi has started to bring his designs home from the office to work on and Asami crawls onto his lap and looks over them with him. I don’t think she understands them but she never looses her focus, they are so much alike, my two geniuses._

_May 18 th 1992_

_Kiyomi is in town this week she has a gallery showing, it’s been nice to catch up. Her and Asami spent the day together, and if you ask Asami she’ll tell you that they spent the whole day on an expedition exploring the Wilds. I really don’t know why they let that section own town become over grown with trees but I’m happy that Asami’s using her imagination. Meanwhile Hiroshi and I went to a marriage counsellor, Hiroshi has promised to be more attentive to my needs and it was suggested that we should start by doing more things as a couple and not just as a family. I suggested that Kiyomi wouldn’t mind looking after Asami more often so that we can have some alone time, but he said that he doesn’t want her spending too much time about that type of riff raff encase it rubs off on her. I didn’t tell him that I saw Asami chasing the gardener’s daughter around the house so she could give her a kiss like the prince does in the books. I’m going to have my hands full with her when she reaches her teens but at least I’ll be there for her when she figures all this out, I hate to think what Hiroshi will do when he finds out._

_July 20 th 1992_

_The unveiling of my fountain in Avatar Park was yesterday, Asami wore herself out splashing in the puddles and slept all afternoon and night. It was a nice break, it gave Hiroshi and I some time to really connect, he made love to me for the first time in years, and he was so tender and attentive, I’d forgotten what a sweety he really is. He held me all night after and I'm beginning to feel like we me might just get through this together._

Asami took a tissue from her nightstand and blew her nose then wipes her eyes. She felt closer to her mother than she could ever remember and not just because she’d read some of her most private and intimate thoughts but also because she could see so much of her mother in herself, they shared the same struggle to be loved by the man who couldn’t deal with their sexuality. Her mother wasn’t made to look pretty she was made to be loved.

Asami stayed up until well past midnight rereading the entries, examining her script; the loops in her ‘t’s. She ran her fingers over the stains in the pages that had been made by her mother’s tears. She finally put the book away when she started to struggle to keep her eyes open. She fell asleep for the first time in a long while feeling content, she now knew that her mother would be proud of her and not ashamed of her like her father was, because her mother knew back then who Asami would grow to be and she’d wanted to be apart of her life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll notice I don't use Asami's mother's name, I'm not sure why though. It's not that I have anything against the name 'Yasuko' I guess i just haven't found a way to work it in.
> 
> As always, Please comment. Don't be shy, I don't bite (unless you ask me to).


	11. Elbow leeches and Hog monkeys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra spends the day with Bolin trying to get him to talk about why he is in Republic City.

The guttural rumble sound emanating from Korra’s living room would have been enough to wake the dead. Despite that fact that Korra was an insomniac she did not appreciate her morning hours on non-sleep being invaded with the sounds of Bolin’s snoring and if she didn’t love him as much as she did, she would smother him with a pillow.

After Asami had left last night Bolin had wasted no time in bombarding her with questions about her new relationship. At first she had tried to brush him off but she eventually gave in and started gushing about Asami. After an hour of rambling about how amazing Asami was (including how great her arse looked in tight pants), Bolin simply commented ‘Now I understand why you’ve been awfully quiet on Twitter recently’ which he emphasised by wiggling his eyebrows. Korra’s face had gone a brilliant shade of res and then responded by giving him a playful punch to the shoulder and changed the topic.

Well, she tried to change the subject to what Bolin was doing in her apartment but he avoided answering by announcing that he was going to run and grab them some takeaway noodles from the restaurant around the corner. After dinner Bolin had passed out on the couch, so she left him there. She did note that it looked like he had already spent a couple of nights on the couch and she couldn’t help but wonder about what was going on with him. The last she had heard he was serving under General Iroh II in the United Forces. Korra knew not to push Bo too hard for information as he would talk when he was ready.

Korra resigned herself to the fact that she would not be getting any peace and quiet while Bolin was asleep so she decided to go for her run early and hoped that he would be awake by the time she got back. Usually her morning runs were pleasant time where she would let go of stress and worry and just let the simple repetition of her foot falls lull her into a calm place, but not today. Today as each foot pounded into the ground it punctuated each aggressive though she had towards Bolin, _Fucking Bolin, Fucking snoring, Fucking cock block, Clam jam, Bush whacker, Taco blocko, Twat swat, Carpet cutter, Snatch Snag._ She knew that Bolin didn’t deserve half the insults that she was thinking about him, he wasn’t to know that she was bringing a woman home. But he also wasn’t supposed to be in her apartment, eating her food and sleeping on her couch.

When Korra arrived back at the apartment she couldn’t see Bolin anywhere but she could hear the sound of running water from the bathroom, so she figured he was in the shower. She set to work on her conditioning exercises trying to focus on her form but her mind kept wandering back to her guest. _Something’s not right, Bo wouldn’t be A.W.O.L. and even if he was, this is one of the first places they’d look for him. He’s not due for leave for another month, so that only leave suspension due to either misconduct, or injury. Shit Bo, what have you done?_ She was 30 seconds into her one minute backwards plank when she was startled from her hold by the sound of clattering pans in her kitchen. _What is he cooking? I don’t have food that needs cooking, I don’t even have cooking utensils. I don’t have pots and pans so what was that noise?_ She turned around and sat in the lotus position trying to calm herself before she spoke. _  
_ ‘Bolin, I am trying to do my exercises, which is really hard with you making a racket in the kitchen, what are you doing?’

He stuck his head out from the kitchen area with a very sheepish grin on his face. ‘I’m cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast, want some?’

 _Breath in, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and out._ ‘Bo, I know for a fact that I don’t own a pan for you to cook that in because I don’t cook, so either one magically appeared in my cupboard while I was gone, or you are insinuating yourself into my apartment.’

Bolin ducked back into the kitchen out of Korra’s line of sight, ‘I’ll just take that as a “no”.’ he called out.

Korra had to let her anger go, Bolin wouldn’t ignore being directly called out unless it was something he didn’t know how to talk about, which meant that it personal; after more than 2 decades of knowing Bolin she knew how to read him like a book. Korra and Bolin had been best friends since her first day of boarding school almost 21 years go. The friendship had been tested on a number of occasions, like when she’d dumped his older brother because she realised that she was a lesbian. Family was a big deal to him and his brother Mako as they had grown up as wards of the military school because they were orphans. The principal had taken pity on them and granted them a home at the school for as long as they needed. Principal Beifong was a tough nut but her heart was in the right place and she looked at the boys like sons just as much as they looked to her like a mother even if they’d never admit it. The fact that Korra had hurt his brother had strained the friendship, but they worked past it.

She finished of her training and Yoga stances as Bolin ate (thankfully quietly) in the kitchen. When she looked over to him emerging from the kitchen is was bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement.

‘What is it Bo?’ she asked shaking her head.

‘Well, this is my first time in Republic City and while I’ve seen a little bit of it this week while you’ve been away, I thought that you could show me the sights, you could be my own personal tour guide.’

‘Sure thing Bo, just let me take a shower first.’

‘Yes Ma’am!’ He responded as he snapped to attention and saluted. Korra just laughed at him and made her way to the bathroom. Bolin might be the same age as her but he was always a boy at heart, and it was an quality she envied, she’d been through too much to ever be able to see the world with true child like wonder all the time, but she still could some times, so that was something.

 ---

Korra knew exactly two places in the city to take Bolin, the first was boardwalk along Yue Bay that was home to food carts on weekends and the second was Avatar Park. Bolin was delighted with the selection of food available at the Bay announced that he was going to taste ‘everything’ and then proceeded to order and eat on of everything from only four of the dozen venders before he conceded defeat. After walking several blocks towards to park Bolin was convinced that he had space for more food and wanted to go back but Korra pulled him along after her.

The nice warm spring weather made for a nice day to visit the park, even if the clouds did look like they were going to open up in the afternoon. They stood at the entrance to the park and Korra watched as Bolin studied the visitor’s map in his hands.

‘So, where to first?’ She asked.

‘I like the look of the Fire Nation Gardens and according to the map there is a mini replica volcano.’ His eyes were so wide with excitement that she couldn’t deny him, even though the Fire Nation garden was all the way over on the other side of the park.

‘Just letting you know now that the lava in the volcano is just orange water.’

‘Oh’ he exclaimed and pouted.

‘But it is heated so that’s something.’ She added trying to cheer him up.

‘Okay, lets move out.’ He commanded as he started to march through the park at such a speed that Korra had to jog to catch up to him.

‘So,’ she started as she fell into stride next to him, ‘are you ready to tell me why you are here in Republic City?’ she tentatively asked.

‘Asami!’ he exclaimed.

 _Wait what?_ Korra was confused, ‘What does my girlfriend have to do with you being in town?’

Bolin was not the one to look confused, ‘Nothing. Asami is here in the park.’ He indicated pointing off in the direction of the tree they had picnicked under and sure enough there was her girlfriend sitting cross-legged under a tree looking more like an art student than and heiress, in her slouch beanie, loose fitting top and ripped skinny jeans, sketching away in a book. _Damn she’s hot. I can’t wait for our date tonight._ She watched as Asami worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she rubbed out a section of what she was working on. _I wonder if she knows how to put those dexterous fingers to work or is she more the type to work with her lips?_

‘Earth to Korra.’ Bolin shouted as he waved a hand in front of her face, ‘I asked if you wanted to go over and say “Hi”?’ Bolin eyed her knowingly and she blushed under his scrutiny.

‘Yes, sure let’s go over.’

‘Squee!’

‘Bolin if you fan-boy I will make sure you live to regret it.’ She warned.

‘Yes Ma’am.’

The pair walked over to Asami who was so engrossed in her sketch that she didn’t react as they approached. Korra put on her best predatory voice, ‘Fancy meeting you here pretty lady!’ and watched as every muscle in Asami’s body tensed and then relaxed when she looked up and met her awaiting smirk.

Asami just laughed, ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked in disbelief.

‘I was just showing Bolin,’ she motioned towards him with her hand for emphasis, ‘around the park. What are YOU doing here?’

‘Well someone told me I wasn’t allowed to spend my weekends at the office. So I decided to come here and sketch mum’s fountain.’ Korra thought she looked sad at the mention of her mother, not at all the proud daughter she had been when she’d first told her about mum's art piece.

‘You’re mum’s fountain?’ Bolin asked

‘Yeah, she designed the fountain, right there in the middle of the walk way.’ Asami explained.

‘No way!’ he exclaimed, ‘That’s cool.’

‘Yeah.’ she intoned in reply.

Korra sensed that something was off and figured that it was probably best to leave her in peace.

‘So I guess I’ll see you tonight, after I’ve finished showing this hog monkey around.’

‘I resent that, that is an insult to hog monkeys, I prefer to think of myself as an elbow leech.’ He admitted with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Korra and Asami both laughed at him and Korra was grateful that Bolin was able to make her girlfriend forget her troubles, even if it was only for a second.

‘Come on you elbow leech, lets get going to the to Fire Nation Gardens and if you behave yourself I might just let you feed the turtle ducks.’ She teased.

‘Yes Ma’am.’ He replied as he marched off in the general direction of the garden. Korra and Asami glanced at each other and shared a smirk.

‘I’ll see you tonight Sweety.’ Korra smiled.

‘Can I get a kiss before you run off and leave me?’ Asami asked hopefully.

‘Anything for my girl.’ She replied as she knelt down and captured Asami’s lips in a tender kiss.

‘I SAW THAT!’ They heard Bolin shout from his position about 100 metres away.

‘Go, you better not keep him waiting.’ Asami gave her another short peck on the lips before stood up.

‘Until to night, my fair lady.’

Asami slapped her palm to her forehead. ‘You are such a dork.’

‘Yeah but you love me.’ Korra replied over her shoulder as she ran off towards Bolin, only just registering the stunned look on Asami’s face. _What did I do? What did I say?... Oh shit!_ She came to a halt when she realised what she’d said, then tore off as fast as she could in the direction Bolin had disappeared not game enough to look back at Asami. _I did not mean to say that._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are still reading this I'm impressed. Sorry there wasn't too much Korrasami in this chapter. But to make up for it the next chapter will be all them, trust me ;-)


	12. The past never leaves us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami and Korra have their date night in Asami's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little longer than the others, I couldn't add a chapter break in this anywhere it all needed to be Asami.

The soft sounds of swing music filled Asami’s apartment as she lay on the couch gently drumming her fingers on the upholstery in time to the music; she’d had put her mother’s record on repeat when she’d returned from the park. Ever since the night before when Asami had read her mother’s journal she’d not been able to think of much else. She’d even dreamed of her mother, not the nightmare from her youth of the accident, but of her mother sitting on the edge of her bed singing her to sleep. In her dream she’d been of an age with her mother as she ran her fingers though her hair and gently rubbed her back. As Asami closed her eyes now she could swear that she still felt her mothers touch ghosting over her back and it hurt a little to think that her mother had been her age when she’d passed.

In the light of a new day Asami realised that she’d have to talk to Hiroshi, as the journal raised more question than it answered. _Had he read the journal?_ _Did he love mum? If not why didn’t he just divorce her? What happened to Kiyomi? Were they still on good terms when mum died?_ She knew that she wasn’t ready to deal with her father just yet, not while she was dealing with the emotions the diary had dredged up. She needed a clear head to deal with him and now wasn’t that time. She checked the clock on the bookshelf and noticed that it was time that she started to get ready for her date tonight.

\---

Three hours later Asami was back on the couch strumming her fingers to the music only the gritty riffs and strong bass line of The Fire Ferrets replaced the soft sounds of swing. Korra was due to arrive soon and Asami took one last look around to make sure that everything was in place, she’d even gone to the extent of organising her books using the Dewey Decimal System, _I really have had too much time alone in this place._ When she was happy that everything was in it’s appropriate place she ran through her mental checklist of things that needed to be done.

_Table’s set_

_Food is ordered_

_Wine is being let breathe_

_Everything else I’m just going to have to wing._

As Asami waited she noticed that the drumming of her fingers was no longer in time with the music and had become or of a nervous tap. She took a slow breath out to try and relax. She didn’t quite know why she was feeling so much pressure to impress, she’d spent plenty of time with Korra and the woman was clearly into her, she just needed to chill. She got up and walked over to the table and poured herself a glass of wine, so she had something to keep her hand occupied. When the buzzer went off and she put down her wine, tuned the music off and walked over to the intercom near the door and pressed the button.

‘Hello?’ she voice sounded shaky

‘Hey Asami,’ _It’s Jon’s son Jai, from the pizzeria,_ ‘I’ve got your order do you want to buzz me up?’

‘Sure thing, hold on a sec.’ She went to buzz the door when she heard Jai’s voice again.

‘Umm, there’s a Korra down here that wants to come up too and she said that she can take the food, is this alright with you? I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’ve got a hot date tonight and dad made me run this delivery on the way home. The only reason I agreed was because it was you, and I owed you one for helping me with my calculus homework the other week.’

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy, ‘And here I was thinking you were doing it out of the kindness in your heart. Give Korra the pizza and go have fun and stay safe.’

‘Can’t promise you anything Sám.’

The boy’s jovial spirit lightened her mood and she felt her nerves fade a little.

‘Umm Asami?’ _Shit,_ she forgot about Korra, ‘The door?’ she pressed the buzzer.

‘There you go.’

She had two minutes before Korra would be at the door so she did one last check of the apartment and took a sip of wine to quiet her nerves. _And, three… two… one…_ she opened the door to see Korra standing in the doorway about to knock. Korra looked a little dumbfounded with her jaw hanging agape but Asami thought she looked all the cuter for it, she took the pizza boxes from her and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘Don’t just stand there come in.’ she felt a smile spread itself across her face and she realised she was truly happy to see Korra and her nerves had been for nothing.

‘I ugh, got these for you, I hope you have a vase.’ Korra was still standing in the doorway her cheeks were flushed pink and she was holding out a bouquet of flowers.

Asami put the pizza on the table then turned back to take the offered flowers as Korra shut the door ‘You didn’t have to but thank you. And while I don’t have a vase, I’m sure I’ll find something.’ She lifted the flowers to her nose and took in their sharp fresh sent, they weren’t anything spectacular or expensive, just a simple bunch of white daises. She made her way into the kitchen and opened the cupboards looking for something to put the flowers in.

‘I know they’re nothing special but they reminded me of you. Their white petals reminded me of your pale skin and their yellow centres of your warm heart. Besides when I saw you today I thought you looked like you could use some cheering up, and daisies always make me happy.’ She pulled a water jug out of the cupboard and turned to face Korra. She was standing rubbing the back of her neck giving Asami a shy smile, looking absolutely adorable. Asami put the jug and flowers down on the bench and went to Korra and took her in her arms resting her arms over Korra’s backpack.

‘They are beautiful and you are so kind and thoughtful. Thank you.’ She puled back just enough to be able to lean in and press her lips to Korra’s. The kiss was soft and gentle and it made the last of her nerves melt away. She broke the embrace and headed back to the bench. ‘I’ll put the flowers in some water if you want to pour yourself some wine and get seated?’

‘Sounds like a plan.’ She heard Korra’s reply as she ran some water into the jug for the flowers.

When Asami sat down at the table she could see Korra’s eyes already taking in the set up of her apartment.

‘Well, this place looks a lot different from the last time I was here, even totally different from when we had our video call two days ago, for starters there’s not a single box to be seen.’ Korra’s tone was only slightly accusatory.

‘I might have erected a wall of boxes as a backdrop for the call.’ She smiled at Korra and continued, ‘To be perfectly honest without you here being a distraction I had quite a bit of free time on my hands, so I decided to set the place up. You can have a look around after we finish dinner if you want.’

‘Let me guess, dinner is your famous banana pizza?’

‘Yep, and a pumpkin and pine nuts pizza.’ She said as she opened the boxes.

‘Nice.’

The dinner conversation was kept casual. Asami had asked about Bolin’s visit but apparently he was skilled at avoiding giving a direct answer. Korra had regaled her with stories about Bolin from boarding school and how they were always referred to as _partners in crime._ Asami didn’t talk much but she enjoyed listening to Korra and watching not just her face but her who body become animated as she invested herself into the telling of a story. She couldn’t imagine this loveable goof being a hardened war veteran, even though she knew it to be true. Korra was just so full of life, just like she remembered her mother being but even she’s had sadness’s Asami would never have guessed existed. _Why does everything keep coming back to her?_

‘Asami?’ Korra looked worried, ‘Is something bothering you? Did I do something wrong? You look completely zoned out.’

She let out a sigh full of shame and ran a hand through her hair. ‘agh, yes… no… Sorry.’ She wasn’t dealing well with this and Korra was looking even more concerned. She took a deep breath and tried again. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, yes something is bothering me but I don’t want to talk about it. I’m sorry for zooming out, it was rude of me, let me make it up to you.’ Korra raised a sceptical eyebrow. Asami stood up and collected their dirty plates, ‘Go, explore the apartment, ask me anything you want about anything you find. Or you can pick a movie to watch and we can snuggle up on the couch.’ Korra was eyeing her suspiciously as she put the dirty plates in the sink and the leftover pizza in the fridge.

‘How about we change into PJ’s first then I’ll get to exploring?’

‘Deal, I’ll wash up while you get changed.’

Asami willed herself to put all thoughts of her mother out of her head, she didn’t want to ruin things with Korra, they’d gotten off to such a good start and she was worried that she was spoiling it by being mopey and distracted. She didn’t want Korra to think that she’d lost interest in her. She had to push it all down, she’d talk to Hiroshi on Monday about her mum but until then she owed her attention to Korra. She’d just finished giving herself a pep talk wen she felt Korra’s strong fingers knead into the muscles in her shoulders.

‘Relax, you look all knotted up.’ Korra’s ministrations felt like the best thing in the world to her tense knots.

‘Hmmm, that fells really good.’ She purred.

‘This isn’t the only thing these fingers can do that will make you feel good.’ Korra cooed in her ear. Asami turned and looked at her then shook her head in disbelief. ‘What? Too much too soon?’

‘I’m sorry Korra, I don’t mean to string you along, I’m just feeling a little delicate right now, and while…’ she stood back and looked Korra up and down, ‘you dressed in blue cotton boxers and a slightly see though white tank top is one of the sexiest things I have ever seen,’ she took a breath and tried not to imagine sucking on the nipples she could see standing to attention through her shirt, ‘I’m just not in the right frame of mind at the moment.’

‘Don’t apologise, I shouldn’t have pushed, I sensed that something was off when we bumped into you at the park today. Now, go get changed and I’ll start exploring.’

She gave Korra the most grateful smile she could muster then went to get changed into her black tank and red plaid PJ pants. When she returned down stairs Korra was sipping her wine and examining her model Stirling engine.

‘What’s this do?’ Korra asked while spinning the wheel.

‘That is a model Stirling engine. It was invented during the industrial revolution as a safer alternative to the steam engine. While it never caught on as a replacement it did drive the invention of safer steam engines. I bought it to remind me that while not every invention is implementable, they are never a waste of time.’

‘Huh, that’s cool.’ She turned it over in her hands one more before putting it back on the shelf. Asami watched as Korra inspected her trophies and ribbons and then as she made her way over to her old text books. ‘I was wondering, all these books,’ she indicated with her hand to her physics books, ‘are they all relevant to industrial design or are they for personal interest? Because…’ she paused then read from the spine of a book, ‘ _Introduction to Quantum Mechanics,_ doesn’t sound like anything to do with cars.’

She couldn’t help but blush, ‘That’s because it’s not related at all. As you know I was a child genius and I took industrial design at uni because it was the most practically useful for a job at Future Industries. And while I love my job and everything I do there, the degree was too easy and I got bored, so I picked up physics subjects for my electives, they were really fascinating and kept me challenged. And now I sound like a precocious child.’

‘No not at all, I love that you’re a super genius.’ Korra cringed at her own words and turned away. Asami just found the slip endearing but she was going to tease the poor woman before she let her off the hook, ‘That’s twice today you’ve used that particular word, the first time you implied that it was how I felt about you, and now you used it to describe how you feel about one of my personality traits. Is there something you want to tell me?’ she asked cocking her eyebrow.

Korra sighed heavily and turned back to face her, ‘No, it’s just that my mouth works quicker than my head sometimes, I have a reputation for saying inappropriate things. I once told a girl I wasn’t even dating, and I quote, _I think we’re meant for each other._ It didn’t go down so well and the moment I said it I regretted it. But with you it’s different, I didn’t mean to say those things, they just fell of the tongue so easily but they didn’t feel wrong, just… too soon.’

‘I get that; some things between us have happened quite fast while other things are taking time. I also don’t think you should worry about embarrassing yourself by saying anything prematurely, since you are the one who proposed before we had even met, I don’t think you can top that.’ She knew she shouldn’t tease the woman but Asami found her even more attractive when she was being bashful.

‘You’re never going to let me live that down are you?’

‘Never.’

Korra harrumphed then went back to looking over the shelves’ contents. Korra flicked through her record collection and her heart leapt to her throat as Korra’s fingers passed over her mother’s record. _Breath, stop being so anxious and over protective, it’s just Korra and she’d not going to damage anything._ She closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping her breathing steady. She felt Korra’s weight shift onto the couch next to her and she opened her eyes to see a concerned face looking back at her. ‘Asami, I know something is bothering you, I’m not sure what that is but I just need you to know that you can talk to me. I’ve been told that I’m a good listener and I personally know from experience that talking helps.’

Asami looked into the ocean of caring in Korra’s eyes and slowly nodded in agreement. She knew it would do her some good to talk about her mum. ‘Just wait here I second, there is something I need to get.’ Asami stood up and went to retrieve the journal before returning to the couch. She noticed Korra eye the book but was grateful she didn’t question it. ‘When I was six my mother was killed in a car crash, a drunk truck driver swerved into the on coming and hit the car head on completely crushing the front of the car.’ She paused for a moment to calm her breathing, this next part was something she’d never talked about outside of a therapist’s office. ‘I was in the backseat when it happened, I walked away from the accident but mum was killed instantaneously. I relived that crash in my dreams for many years, Hiroshi sent me to the best psychologist money could buy to help treat my PTSD. It’s something that I’ve learnt to deal with, however nothing has been able to fill the hole that was left by my mother’s death. A hole that was made bigger this week when I unpacked a box of her things that Hiroshi had sent me.’

She felt Korra’s arm wrap around her shoulder and pull her into a sideways hug. Without looking up at Korra she passed the book over to her. ‘This was her journal. I read it last night when I got home from dropping you off. At first reading it made me feel close to her, like the missing piece in a puzzle falling into place. Then It made me realise that there is still so much I want to know, even more question that I never knew needed to be asked.’ She looked up at Korra and steadied herself for what she was about to say, ‘I want you to read it, there are things in there that I can’t explain. Please?’

Korra looked at her hesitantly, ‘Are you sure?’ Asami nodded, more to convince herself than Korra. ‘Okay, first come here.’ Korra pulled her onto her lap then turned them so that they were stretched along the couch with Korra’s back propped up on the armrest and Asami lying on top of her with the back of her head resting on the other woman’s chest. Korra held the book in front of both of them and silently read through the entries. Occasionally she’d let out a chuckle and it would jostle Asami in her position, other times Korra would put a protective arm around Asami’s waist and pull her in close. They were on the page of the entry for July 5th 1991, when Korra spoke for the first time.

‘I don’t feel so embarrassed about the train incident now that I know you’ve had the hots for me since I was three.’

Asami tilted her head to look up at Korra, ‘What?’

‘The chief of the Sothern Water Tribe is my dad, the little girl in that photo your mum speaks of was me. The same girl you said was _pretty._ ’ There was a large smirk across Korra’s face and Asami was still feeling confused.

‘How come you’ve never mentioned before that your dad is the chief of the Sothern Water Tribe?’

‘I thought you knew, you said you were a fan of mine, I thought it was common knowledge.’

‘Just because I follow your Twitter feed doesn’t mean that I’ve researched you.’

‘Fair point, put the fact that you had the hots for me 14 years ago still stands true.’ Korra teased.

‘Well, at least I had taste.’

They went back to reading the last two entries before Korra closed the book and wrapped both arms tight around her. Asami felt Korra press a kiss to the top of her head and the two of them remained unmoving for a few minutes. ‘Thank you for sharing that with me.’ Korra spoke into her ear. ‘It mustn’t have been easy for you, so thank you. Now come on, lets head up to bed, we can talk about this tomorrow if you want but for now I think you need some rest.’ Asami couldn’t agree with her more, she felt emotionally drained and thought that she would sleep for 100 years once her head hit the pillow.

‘Sleep sounds like the best idea in the world.’

Both women got up from the couch and Asami clutched the book to her chest with on hand while she held Korra’s in the other. They made their way upstairs together where Asami swiftly deposited the book back into the nightstand and crawled under the covers. Korra climbed onto the other side of the bed and wriggled in close to Asami.

‘Good night Asami.’ Korra whispered into her ear.

‘Night Korra.’ She responded as she pulled Korra’s arm around her so that she was in the little spoon position. _I’ve missed this, I can’t remember the last time someone held be while I fell asleep, I’m not sure anyone ever has._ Asami drifted off to sleep just as she felt Korra’s fingers combing through her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? thoughts? 
> 
> I promise there is fluff and smut coming, but Asami really needed to deal with some things, she wasn't in a good headspace.  
> Also I'm sorry if Asami seems a little OOC this chapter.


	13. Intermission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a gesture of good faith. I am writing the next chapter it's just taking longer than expected (I've had quite a bit happening in life ATM)
> 
> Sorry this is so short but I promise that the next chapter is worth the wait and as it stands it is 3270 words and I've still got more to go, but I should have it out in the next few days.

The incessant ringing of the phone woke Boling from his slumber on Korra’s couch. He’d fallen asleep the night before watching Netflix, as he had most nights of the past week. He grumbled as the noise drew him further from sleep and closer to consciousness, as he reached for his phone to mute the message tone he suddenly found himself wide awake when he saw who had been none stop messaging him. Bolin hadn’t expected to hear from the sender for a few more days yet but he knew that this was an opportunity he did not want to miss. He quickly went through this morning triple-S routine, then made his way out the front door with a spring in his step that he hadn’t had for quite some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 'triple-S' routine, it refers to a having a 'shit, shower and shave'


	14. A day of new descoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Asami spend a lazy sunday learning new things about each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is. the long awaited next chapter and coming in at just over 5,000 words I hope you will think it was worth the wait.

Delicate fingers were tracing patterns over her ribs through the shirt. The movements tickled slightly but the overall sensation was nice. Korra could feel Asami’s warm body pressed against her back and her breath against the back of her neck. She felt like that was the most ideal way to wake up in the morning. Korra tensed in shock for a second at the thought, _Morning? It is morning. I slept through the whole night and with no dreams._ She realised that it was the first time, since the incident with Zaheer, that she had had uninterrupted sleep and a contented smile spread itself across her face. She rolled over to face Asami and couldn’t help her smile becoming a grin at the sight of the woman who was peaking out at her though one sleepy eye.

‘Morning beautiful, how’d you sleep?’ Korra asked.

Asami removed her hand from Korra’s side to run it through her hair. _Half-asleep Asami, might just be the most breathtaking sight in the world._

‘It was comforting falling asleep in your arms, very soothing. How did you sleep? You were twitching and your face was scrunched up a little, I was a little worried.’

Korra was a little confused, ‘I had the best night sleep that I’ve had in a long time.’

‘You were whimpering, it woke me up, but I held you and rubbed your back until you calmed down and relaxed. The whole thing only lasted a minute or two.’

She felt like she should be embarrassed that Asami had seen her like that but honestly she was just relieved that the woman had been watching over her. ‘I’m sorry that I woke you, especially after you had such an exhausting day.’ She reached out and slipped a stray tendril of hair back behind Asami’s ear. Asami closed her eyes at the touch and hummed.

‘Well, if you are truly sorry I suggest you think of a way to make it up to me.’ Her voice wasn’t teasing or aggressively suggestive in any way, if anything she sounded peaceful. Korra grasped at Asami’s hand that had resumed its ministrations along her ribs and pulled herself closer so to press a kiss against Asami’s lips. They kissed with no urgency and Korra felt a tenderness for the woman that she hadn’t felt before. They had all the time in the world and Korra was not going to rush this. As the kiss deepened Asami’s arm shifted around her, then Korra felt her fingers play with the wispy bits of hair growing back in at the base of her neck. The sensation made Korra’s whole body tingle an become hyper aware of it’s surroundings; she could feel the weight of the blanket on top of her, Asami’s feet brushing against her own, a stray bit of hair tickling the back of her ear and the gentle pressure of air against her cheek as Asami breathed out through her nose.

Korra softly dragged her fingers down Asami’s arm then circled them over the soft skin of her inner wrist as she let her gaze take in each freckle, scar and blemish on her face. As Korra moved her arm around Asami’s back, Asami started her own exploration of Korra’s body with her hands. Korra felt strong fingers drag down her back just to tickle at the exposed flesh where her tank had ridden up during the night. In the morning light, Asami looked like a spirit, her tussled hair was incredibly sexy. The whole exploration process was intimate, Korra relished every touch and every caress of Asami’s hands, just as much as she was thankful for discovering the different textures of Asami’s skin and the responses she earned in caressing them. Asami was ticklish in the hollow of her hip, she moaned when her breasts were palmed and she caught the side of her lower lip in her teeth when her nipples were pinched.

Neither spoke during the whole process, it was like they were in their own little bubble of the universe and nothing else existed. They asked questions with glances and responded with nods or touches. Korra was lost to the sensations riddling her body and she didn’t realise Asami had rolled her onto her back and was straddling her hips until she felt the gentle tug at the hem of her tank. She understood Asami was asking for permission, so she raised her arms above her head so that Asami could easily slip her shirt over her head, She raised her shoulders of the bed to allow the shirt off and when it had cleared her head she pitched herself forward to press her lips against Asami’s. The Kiss was a little more passionate that their earlier ones, but no more eager. Asami sat up and stilled herself as Korra watched her study her naked torso with hungry eyes.

‘You’re beautiful Korra.’ Asami whispered. Korra could feel her heart fluttering in her chest, it had been a long time since anyone had complemented her in that fashion, most of the time it was, _wow_ _you’re really ripped_ , or, _you’re a skilled soldier_ , or, some other complement relating to who she was or the things she’d done, but Asami’s eyes were full of wonder and awe and her voice so soft and delicate that she couldn’t deny the honesty in her words.

‘Thank you.’ She managed to squeak out, and she wasn’t entirely sure if the flush across her face was from embarrassment or the complement. She wanted to show Asami how much she appreciated the kind words, she reached an arm up to pull her in for a kiss, albeit a little too enthusiastically, and managed to head butt her instead. She was mortified at her own clumsiness and pushed Asami back just enough to make sure she was alright, only to discover that she was silently laughing.

‘I’m so sorry.’ they both said at the same time, which only led to both of them laughing. Asami’s body heaved and wriggled as she laughed the movement against her own body drew her attention back to their prier activity. She felt Asami’s body tense as her own breathing became shallow. Asami pushed herself up a little and looked up and down the space between their bodies. Korra reached for the hem of Asami’s shirt and yanked it up over her head. Their bodies crashed back together and Korra relished in the feel of their bare chests meeting as their lips moved together in a searing kiss. Korra used her strength to flip them over and switch their positions, without breaking the kiss.

Korra slowly moved her lips away from Asami’s but continued to pepper her with kisses along her cheek, momentarily stopping to nibble on Asami’s ear lobe, which earned her a breathy sigh and a roll of the hips beneath her. Her lips repeated the exploration that she’d made with her hands and fingers earlier. Kissing, nibbling, sometimes biting at tender bits of flesh. Korra was surprised to learn that Asami’s areola were not small and pink like most women’s from the fire nation were, but were a medium size and more of the brownish pink that she had come to expect of women of Earth Kingdom decent. Regardless of colour and size Asami still hissed as Korra took an erect nipple into her mouth and gently bit it. Her exploration didn’t last much longer as Asami flipped them back over and used her own mouth to kiss and lick Korra’s body. Her skin goose bumped at the attention and her whole body gave a shiver. She heard Asami purr and she looked down her body to the sight of Asami hungrily licking the creases of her abs. She felt Asami’s fingers run along the top of her boxers were she wore them low on her hips and it tickled a little but she also felt herself clench in anticipation.

Asami looked up at her through hooded eyes, ‘May I?’ She asked.

Korra bit her bottom lip and nodded in response. She felt Asami’s fingers slip under the band of both her pants and panties and start to slowly tug them down. She felt Asami’s lips kiss each new slither of skin as it was reviled. She let a soft whine form in her throat as Asami reached the precipice of where she wanted those lips the most. Then without warning Asami whipped the shorts the rest of the way off. Korra was momentarily shocked by the sudden change in pace until she felt Asami start to kiss her ankle and continued making a path back up her leg. Korra’s breathing became quite shallow and her skin began to heat up. Korra’s previously heightened senses now narrowed to her and Asami; she could hear Asami’s breathing, mummers and the sound of her soft kisses, only feel Asami’s touch, the heat from her own body and the dripping want from her core.

When Asami’s lips met the soft tender skin of her inner thigh, she propped herself up on her elbows to watch as Asami licked and nibbled her way closer to her cunt. Asami stopped movement for a moment and her gaze shifted up to meet Korra’s watchful eyes. Asami sat up at tied her hair up in a messy top knot using a hair tie from her wrist and Korra took the time to really appreciate the natural beauty of the woman, from her ebony hair and her Kelly green eyes, to her porcelain skin and the slender curves of her body. _Wow, If this is a dream, spirits please don’t wake me._ Her eyes never left Asami as the woman slid down between her legs and gently slipped a finger through her wet folds. The motion was long and drawn out and Korra felt a shiver run through her body at the delicate touch. She tried to watch as Asami lowered her head to clam her clit in her mouth but sparks fired in the edges of her eyes and her vision completely failed her as she felt Asami slip her finger inside. All she could see was stars as she gave her body over to the pleasure. She knew she was a panting, thrashing mess and she could feel her heart pounding inside her chest but she couldn’t have recalled what Asami was doing to her even if she tried. It was always the same, every time she had sex with someone for the first time, pure pleasure and new sensations overload her body until her world was only one all encompassing feeling of bliss.

She felt herself reaching the edge of release as she reached up and gripped onto the headboard and let out a wail as her orgasm hit and she started to come back to herself. She suddenly felt very cold and reached down to tug Asami up by the shoulders to hold her. The older woman obliged her and held one arm around her as the other hand continued it’s movements inside her drawing out her release to it’s full extent. She felt her own breathing return to a regular pace as her heart rate calmed down as well. Asami flicked her thumb occasionally over her clit with caused Korra to giggle.

‘Really?’ Asami questioned with curious disbelief, ‘Me playing with your clit after you cum, makes you giggle?’

Korra wasn’t sure if Asami could see the blush on her already flushed face, but she felt embarrassed none the less. ‘y..ye..yessss. hee, heee.’ she stammered out as Asami made another pass at her sensitive nerves. ‘St..stop that. It tickles.’ She tried to pout, but Asami clamed her lips in a kiss. Korra hummed, as she tasted herself on the other woman’s lips, then pitched forward as Asami made another pass at her clit.

‘Oh, I’m going to have fun with this.’ Asami teased, but Korra wasn’t going to let her get away with it, so before Asami could make another move, Korra flipped them over and extracted Asami’s fingers from her depths. She pulled Asami’s arms above her head and held them in place with her forearm as she propped herself up with the other. She looked down at the woman beneath her and remembered Asami’s words from earlier that morning.

‘I Believe there was something I was supposed to be making up for?’ She asked staring hungrily into Asami’s wide eyes. Korra had wanted to take her time, letting her hands and mouth roam Asami’s body, but after the exquisite orgasm she’d just experienced she didn’t have much restraint left. While still restraining Asami’s arms Korra quickly kissed her way down Asami’s neck, collarbone and chest gently circling a nipple with the tip of her lounge, before making her way to the next, all the while her other hand trailed it’s way down to the band of Asami’s pants and inched it’s way under the fabric. She felt more then heard Asami’s breathe hitch in throat as her hand delved into her slick folds. Korra moaned at the sensation, her lips felt silky smooth between her fingers as she dragged two digits back and forth along her slit.

Korra felt Asami roll her hips beneath her as she threw her head back and moaned, ‘Please?’ She dipped two fingers inside and moved the palm of her hand over her clit as she curled her fingers. She heard her make some unintelligible request and moved herself back up the writhing body beneath her to whisper in Asami’s ear, ‘What was that?’

‘Fuck me Korra,’ Asami groaned, ‘spirits, fuck me hard.’ Slightly stunned by the request it took her a second to respond. She started to slowly pump her hand in and out of the other woman but her pants were in the way and Korra could hear her starting to groan in frustration so she withdrew her hand from Asami’s warm centre, then using a similar movement that Asami had used earlier, ripped the offending clothing from her body and nestled herself in between her legs. She rubbed her fingers over Asami throbbing nerves as the fingers of her other hand resumed their stroke in Asami’s wet core, filling the room with the sound of Asami’s screams of, ‘Yes’, ‘More,’ and ‘Fuck, spirits, pound me harder.’ _Who knew she had the mouth of a sailor on her but spirits she’s sexy when she swears._

Korra increased the speed of her hand and dragged her fingers against Asami’s inner walls with each stroke. She could feel her arms growing tired and numb but she wasn’t going to stop. She dropped her mouth to replace the fingers playing with Asami’s clit and she could taste the blood that had rushed to the nerves. She alternated between flicking it with her tongue and sucking it into her mouth as she continued to pump her other hand relishing in the feel of her warm wet want. She felt a rush of juices coat her palm and Asami’s walls start to tighten around her fingers and she figured that the other woman would reach her climax any second now, and she smiled to herself at her own skill until she heard Asami scream, ‘STOP, Korra, STOP.’ She stilled all movement and looked up to see Asami’s face covered in tears. Korra’s felt a wave of dread hit her body and she extracted herself from between Asami’s legs and pulled herself up to cradle the other woman in her arms.

‘Asami what’s wrong? What happened? Did I do something wrong?’ Korra wracked her brains trying to think of what could have possibly happened.

‘No, Korra.’ Asami sobbed, ‘Happy tears. Just hold me, please?’

‘Of course.’ She held Asami closer and stroked her hair. Asami’s breathing slowly returned to normal and she turned her head to kiss Korra on the lips, and then lightly peppered the rest of her face with soft kisses.

‘Thank you, Korra.’

‘Do you want to explain to me what just happened? Because you didn’t … did you?’ She asked hoping Asami would pick up on what she was trying to delicately ask.

‘No, I didn’t get off.’ Asami exhaled heavily, ‘I… My body… As I get close to climax, everything gets hypersensitive and I can’t handle it. It makes me feel like I want to crawl out of my skin just to get away from it. I’m sorry, I should have warned you.’ Korra felt her heart break just a little bit for the woman in her arms.

‘Oh, Asami. No, not at all, just so long as you are okay, you just scared me for a moment, but you don’t need to apologise.’ She pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her on the top of her head, when a sudden though struck her, ‘Does this mean you’re 28 and you’ve never…? Because if that’s the cause, we need to figure something out, because wow, you need to know what you’ve been missing out on.’

She felt Asami shake in her arms as she gave out a soft laugh, ‘No, it’s not like that. Trust me, I can get myself off. It’s just that no one else ever has.’ Korra didn’t miss the little bit of disappointment in her girlfriend’s voice and she promised herself that they would figure out a way to rectify the situation because _, Getting yourself off was one thing, but when someone else does it for you, spirits, it amazing._

‘And the tears?’ She asked

‘What you were doing felt really good, and it’s been a looong time since someone’s touched me, I just got a little overwhelmed.’

‘Okay, I can live with that.’ She stretched herself out on the bed and held Asami close to her, gently running her hands along her back and relishing in the feel of the warm post sex haze and their bodied tangled together.

Some hours later, after a mid-morning nap, Korra was standing by Asami’s front door waiting for her to come down from her bedroom, so they could leave for lunch.

\---

‘Come on Asami,’ she called out, ‘How long does it take you to get ready?’ She checked the time on her phone as her stomach gave a audible grumble. When she looked back up she was stunned into silence by the sight she was greeted with. Asami was skipping down the stairs in a sunray-pleated sundress. The white dress made her pale skin look ever so slightly tanned and it was printed with pale red flowers and a scattering of green leaves that brought out her green eyes. Her long dark hair bounced with each step she took and she positively beamed with excitement as she came to a stop in front of her. Korra just gaped at her for a second before she found the words she was looking for. ‘Who are you and what happened to my punk/rock/grunge girlfriend?’

Asami lightly swatted her on the arm in response, ‘I am taking you out for high tea, besides, you shouldn’t be trying to pigeonhole me, after all, you were the one who wore a dress on our first date, besides I’m not afraid to mix it up a little.’

‘True, I’ll give you that but in my defence, after spending the past 10 years of my life in uniform, I occasionally enjoy the freedom of a dress.’ She paused for a second and cast an eye over her own ensemble, ‘Um, Asami, don’t you think I’m a little under-dressed?’ she used her hand to indicate her jeans and t-shirt.

‘Korra, you’re fine. Besides I’m probably overdressed. Now let’s just get going.’ She said as she stepped forward and offered her elbow to Korra. Korra accepted to proffered elbow by entwining hers with Asami’s as they made their way out the door.

\---

They’d been driving for about five minutes when Korra realised that she’d never seen this part of town before. The further they drove the denser the trees along the sidewalk became.

‘Um? Asami, where exactly are we? I’ve never been to this part of town before.’

‘After reading mum’s journal, it reminded me that I haven’t been to the wides in a long while. This used to be a destitute part of town. As you can see the trees along the sidewalk have extended to form a canopy over the whole area, which obscures most of the natural light. The lack of light led to a high crime rate and an abundance of homeless. The streets were covered with leaf litter and it was like walking into a jungle. A lot of people were scared to come to this part of town before the city council decided about 10 years ago that they needed to fix the problem. They installed the dragonfly spirit lights throughout the tree tops to supply light to the area, then they gave the homeless a place to live and employed them to keep the streets clean and clear of debris. After that the crime rate dropped and people started to see the beauty of the area.’

Korra turned her gaze to the canopy above and noticed how to twinkling of lights reminded her of the night’s sky she’d seen when she was on a mission in the Si Wong Desert. Along the streets she saw little boutiques that sold clothes or books or knick-knacks as well as cafés, delicatessens and patisseries.

‘It didn’t take long for this to become one of the trendiest places in Republic City. It’s not really my scene but I do have to admit that the food there is to die for, and there is this great little tea shop here that I want to take you to. The owner originally had a shop in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, that’s were I first discovered it, but he left the store in the capable hands of his nephew and opened this one here.’

Korra was still looking around at the plethora of shops when Asami parked the car and made her around the car to hold Korra’s door open for her. ‘We’re here.’ Asami announced as she extended her arm to Korra. Korra took it and followed her down the street a few short steps to front of a shop called ‘Jasmine Dragon Tea’. Inside the shop was a scattering of tables filled with people enjoying food or playing a game of Pai Sho as they sipped their tea. Making his way in between the tables was an old portly fellow of average height carrying a tray holding a tea pot and cups, who Korra surmised was the proprietor of the shop. She took a long deep breathe through her nose and took in all the tantalising aromas of the place. The first things that hit her was the warm sweet smell of tea and it reminded her of many long cold days spent huddled up down in the south enjoying the tranquillity of the cold. The second thing that caught her attention was the smell of the food and she let out a soft moan at the delights she could almost taste.

‘This place looks and smells amazing.’ She whispered in Asami’s ear.

‘Just wait until you taste the tea, Iroh prides himself on having the best tea in town and his not wrong.’ No sooner had the words left her mouth when the portly man Korra had spotted made his was over to them.

‘Ah… Asami.’ He greeted as he pulled her into a brief hug, ‘It’s been awhile, you used to visit me once a week when I was in Ba Sing Se, and now not so much, but you are looking radiant as always. You know, you really should come back and visit me more often, none of these people in Republic City know how to play a decent came of Pai Sho.’ He gave her a cheeky wink and then turned his attention to Korra, ‘And who is this lovely young woman you have brought with you?’

‘Iroh, this is Korra of the Southern Water Tribe. Korra, this is Iroh.’

‘Ah, oh course, I have read a lot about you my dear. I used to be a General in the Fire Nation Army, and I like to keep up to date with the going ons of important service personnel. You have many great accomplishments, it is my great privilege to meet you.’ Not often in her life had a higher-ranking officer saluted Korra and this was one of those times. She knew it shouldn’t be a big deal, since both of them were now civilians, but her chest tightened with a mix of pride and guilt. She reached her hand up and held it to Iroh’s shoulder.

‘Thank you Sir.’ She responded as graciously as she could muster.

If Iroh sensed anything off in her response he didn’t show it, ‘Now, ladies, are you here just for the tea or can I interest you in some food as well?’

‘We came especially for your famous high tea plates, they are something everyone should try at least once in their lives.’

‘Oh, Asami, you do flatter me, now come right this way there is a table for two right in the window that will suit you just nicely and I will bring you out some tea to get started with.’

Unsurprisingly, Asami had been right; the food and the tea were possibly the best things Korra had tasted in her life. The tea was strong with subtle fruit notes that added a slight sweetness but didn’t detract from soothing qualities of the tea. The food was a mixture of savouries and sweets; there were cheese and herb scones that simply melted in her mouth and Korra’s favourite were these little lemon meringue tarts that Iroh cooked the top of with an oxy torch right at the table.

Asami directed most of the conversation. She spent a lot of time talking about her mother, telling stories and even admitting that she was thinking about tracking down the Kiyomi person her mother had written about. Korra just let her talk; she figured that Asami hadn’t had anyone in her life for a while that she could sit and talk to and it must be somewhat cathartic for her. Korra had settled onto the role of being a sympathetic ear that she was startled when Asami changed the topic of conversation.

‘So, I recall you telling me once that you have a tattoo. I didn’t see one this morning, and I did see an awful lot of you.’ She emphasised with a wink, ‘So, tell, where is it?’

After how serious their conversation had been Korra knew she needed to lighten the mood, so she decided to make a little game of it.

‘Oh, really? You didn’t see it? It’s large and kind of hard to miss, there must be something wrong with your eye sight.’ She tried to say it as seriously as possible but she knew that she hadn’t been able to completely disguise her playful intentions.

‘Is that what you think? I’ll have you know that my eyesight it perfect. I think that you were trying to sound cool and lied about having one.’ Asami replied then poked her tongue out at her and Korra was happy that she had decided to play along.

‘Oh trust me, it’s real. Those hours I spent under the gun were painful. It’s probably that the lighting in your apartment is terrible. It’s a wonder that you can see anything.’

‘What do you mean the lighting is terrible? One whole wall is literally made of glass. It has some of the best natural lighting of any place I’ve ever seen. What gives?’

Korra couldn’t help the giant grin that spread itself across her face. ‘To be honest you didn’t pay close attention to my back, so I’m not surprised that you missed it.’ The confused look that crossed Asami’s face was absolutely adorable. ‘I have a giant tattoo of the spirit Raava from neck to hip on my back, that can only be seen under UV light. But if you look closely you can see the scaring from the needles.’

‘Why did you get such a large tattoo that can’t be seen?’

‘With the work that I was doing it wasn’t a wise decision to have something that would make me easily identifiable; some of my assignments I had to go undercover for.’

‘That makes sense. So why Raava?’

‘If you had of asked me when I was 16 what I would have gotten for a tattoo, I would have told you that, I never would have gotten one. I’ve never been a very spiritual person either but after the Water Tribe civil war I was lost at sea and almost died. It affected me in a way I could have never expected. I spent a lot of time meditating after that, I can’t really explain it, but it helped me deal with my brush with death. I felt a connection to Raava, like she was the light guiding me back from the dark. I felt like the tattoo would be a way of paying tribute to her and thinking her for help.’

‘Oh Korra.’ Asami reached across the table and clasped her hands tight around hers and gave them a reassuring squeeze. It was a small gesture but it meant the world to her. ‘You’ll have to show it to me some time.’

On the way out of the tea shop Korra made sure that she covered the bill, because she’d noticed that Asami had always managed to find a way to pay for their meals. They both embraced Iroh and gave him their thanks for the tea and the food and Asami promised that she would return for a long overdue game of Pai Sho. As the turned to exit the shop the bumped into another couple who were just entering. Korra was muttering her apologies to the girl in front of her when she heard a squeak from the person standing next to her, followed by a high pitched, ‘Korra, what are you doing here?’

Korra gaped at Bolin, ‘Funny, I think that’s the question I should be asking you?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ???


	15. The fantasy is never real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami confronts Hiroshi about her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this chapter 3 times before it started to sound like the story I was trying to tell. Sorry in advance.

She was strong, independent, smart, talented, she could command the attention of a whole meeting, she could make her girlfriend scream her name in pure ecstasy, there was a plethora of things that Asami Sato could do, but one thing that wasn’t on that list was the ability to call Hiroshi on the phone for a personal conversation. Their relationship had become purely professional over the years and she had no idea how to even start the dialog she needed to have with him.

Upon entering her office on Monday morning Asami picked up the receiver to the phone on her desk and her finger hovered over the speed dial button that was a direct line to Hiroshi’s office. She quickly returned the phone to its cradle, _It’s work hours, I shouldn’t be making personal calls on work time._  She knew it was an excuse but this was something she needed to work herself up to.

After missing a day of work last week Asami had Paper work, designs to approve, prototypes to inspect, not forgetting her own designs she needed to finish off and she was glad that it would give her the distraction she needed so that she could stop thinking about her mother and the phone call she needed to make.

The whole day the presence of the phone on her desk haunted her, she knew she was being pathetic but she felt like it was taunting her, mocking her in silent communication ‘Chicken, * insert chicken noise here*’

It was a little after lunchtime and she was reviewing the new budget restriction that the board had just handed down, when she was startled by the phone on her desk ringing. She noted that it was an outside line and readied herself for the call, then picked up.

‘Future Industries, Research and Development, This is Asami Sato.’ She paused waiting for he caller to identify themselves but all she received by way of a response was a cackling laugh that she instantly recognised as Korra’s and all her tension fell away. ‘Korra, what are you doing calling me on my work line?’

‘First, your work phone voice is hilarious; you sound so officious. Second I’ve been messaging and calling your mobile all morning, with NO response. I figured that you’ve left your phone at home or something and I wanted to check and see how thing went with your dad.’ While Korra was talking Asami checked her phone and realised that Korra was right, she did have multiple missed calls and messages from her girlfriend, _And I didn’t hear them because my phone was on silent,_ she mentally chastised herself.

‘Oh. Sorry about that, I didn’t realise that my phone was on silent.’

‘That’s all right it happens. So how’d it go?’

‘It didn’t, well, hasn’t. I’m still working up the courage to call him.’ She replied a little sheepishly and she felt the tears beginning to well in her eyes, she felt so pathetic of being afraid of calling her own father.

‘Oh, Sáms, you can do it, I know you can. And if you don’t do it today you can try again tomorrow, it’s not like the man’s going anywhere.’

‘You’re right. It’s just that I don’t know how to start the conversation, you know? It’s something we’ve spent years avoiding talking about. After mum died it was like she never existed. I felt like I was the last reminder to him of her and that that’s why he sent me away to boarding school’ She heard Korra choke on a response so she continued, ‘I’m not upset about it, I’m just trying to explain why I feel this way. Besides I don’t think that he loved her anymore so I know the topic’s not going to hurt his feelings.’

‘Well, I think you should begin at where it all started, the box. Tell him you finally got around to unpacking it, thank him for giving you your mother’s possessions then ask him about the journal.’

‘You’re right, I can do this and that is a good suggestion Korra, you’re a good motivational speaker, you should look into that was a career.’

‘Did you just make a joke Asami?’

‘I was trying to lighten the mood.’

‘Consider the mood lightened. Anyway I have to go, I‘ve got this whole thing with Bolin that I have to deal with, I’ll tell you all about it later. Good luck.’

‘That sounds intriguing. I’ll call you later. Bye’

‘Cya.’

\---

The rest of the day dragged on and at the back of Asami’s mind she was constantly scripting what she would say to Hiroshi. When 4:00pm finally ticked around she picked up the receiver once again and called Hiroshi’s office.

‘Asami,’ he answered jovially, ‘to what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘Hiroshi, there are some things I want to talk to you about.’

‘Go ahead, shoot.’

‘It’s of a personal nature, can I make an appointment to see you?’ she asked hesitantly, this was one of the things she’d decided upon during the afternoon. She knew he was an accomplished liar and she needed to see his reactions first hand to gauge his responses. On the other end of the line she heard Hiroshi sigh.

‘Asami, you are my daughter; my only child, you don’t need to make an appointment. I know things between us aren’t … ideal, but you shouldn’t feel like I’m unapproachable’ Asami wasn’t sure how to respond and Hiroshi continued before she could formulate a reply. ‘ I’ll tell you what. Come around for dinner tonight and we’ll talk then. I’ll even call cook and have him prepare your favourite, It’s still turtle-duck curry right?

‘Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll see you at 7”

‘See you then Darling.’

She was surprised by Hiroshi’s invitation but she also knew that his life was probably just as isolated as hers and that he needed the company.

\---

Her foot falls Echoed around the empty atrium. Asami tried to push the memory of her last visit to the mansion from her thoughts, _How could he have said those things to me?_ The thoughts often tore her apart inside. She hated him for how he treated her even more so now that she knew that he had treated her mother the same way but Hiroshi was her father and she intrinsically loved him and wanted him to love her. When she reached the door to the dining hall she ran her hands over her shirt smoothing out any wrinkles and nervously adjusted all her jewellery in an attempt to get all of her fidgeting out of her system. She pushed through the door and was greeted by Hiroshi standing up at his setting at the table to welcome her in a hug. She returned the hug and hated herself for it and for feeling safe in his arms, just like she had when she was a little girl. 

‘Come sit.’ He indicated the setting on the corner next to his, ‘Cook should be out soon with the food.’

Asami took the seat and blankly stared at the empty plate in front of her, she couldn’t bring herself to look at the man sitting next to her. ‘So tell me, how’s work going, I haven’t seen your name on any designs that have come across my desk lately.’

Talk about work was something she could do and she was happy for the opening because she still wasn’t ready to talk to him about the real reason for the meeting yet.

‘Works going good, I’ve been helping out a lot with the new designers and engineers. They need the guidance and I’m only too happy to help. I’ve also been working on a design of my own for an upgraded differential system, It’s just not at the prototype stage yet.’

Dinner was served and the Asami continued to explain her designs for an electric differential system that combined the already utilised steering wheel and motor speed signals, with signals collected from torque sensors on the wheels to maximise the functionality of the differential. She was hoping that the added sensors would allow the ‘diff’ to compensate for environmental friction that created resistance in the current system. Hiroshi smiled and nodded along with her explanation of how she was having trouble with a design for mounting the sensors that would minimise external static causing inaccurate data reading. He offered some helpful suggestions and she was grateful for his input. It almost felt like what she had wished their relationship was really like.

After Dinner they retired to the sitting room and Hiroshi poured himself Earth Kingdom Smoked Rum, while Asami declined his offer to pour one for her as well. She sat on one of the large studded armchairs and glanced at Hiroshi whom was in an armchair of his own and looking at her expectantly. _It’s now or never._

‘I wanted to thank you for those boxes you back up for me. I’ve only just gotten around to unpacking them and I wanted to thank you in particular for the box of mum’s possessions. It means a lot to me.’ She choked back the emotions in her voice and she hoped she was coming across as sincere.

‘Asami, Yasuko would have wanted you to have those things. In fact I’m sure that she would have wanted to give them to you herself. She loved you dearly Asami. It’s a shame she never got to see the woman you’ve become.’ He said as he smiled affectionately towards her.

She felt her blood boil with every word he spoke, as much as she wanted to loose herself to the fantasy that Hiroshi was this loving father who cared for her, she knew it wasn’t true and she could make pretended any more.

‘Cut the bullshit Hiroshi!’ she responded through gritted teeth as she watched his smile slip to his negotiation face.

‘What is it that you’re really here about?’ he dead paned.

‘What can you tell me about Kiyomi?’

‘So, she wrote about her, huh?’

‘You didn’t read the journal?’

‘No, I couldn’t bring myself to, not after what sh… no.’ he finished flatly.

‘I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that she wrote about how isolated she felt after she had me, how you hated her just like you hate me. How could you treat her like that, she loved you.’ Her voice was wavering on her and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back her own tears much longer.

‘BECAUSE SHE WASN’T NORMAL!’ he bellowed, she sat there in stunned silence, and he continued in a much calmer tone. ‘When I fell in love with your mother, everything was perfect. She shared my vision for the future and with her by my side I felt like I could achieve anything.’ There was a sad smile on his face and he lost himself in the memory. ‘We married when we were in our mid 20’s and a couple of years later she fell pregnant with you, that’s when everything changed. The hormones did strange things to her and she would spend a lot of time alone in the library sketching the same woman’s face over and over again. I recognised the woman as Kiyomi, she’d been your mother’s maiden of honour at our wedding.’ He paused to pour himself another glass of rum before continuing with his story. ‘I approached your mother and asked her about the drawings and she just said that she missed her friend and I believed her. It wasn’t until a couple of nights later that she told me the true extent of their relationship and I felt disgusted. I felt like I’d been tricked into the marriage and family and that everything that I knew was a lie.’ He could conceal the accusatory tone in his voice and Asami was seething through her nose and white-knuckling the armrests.

‘How could you think that about her? She LOVED you, she constantly wrote about how you withdrew from her and she just wanted you back.’

‘How could I **ever** be enough for her?’ he challenged.

‘You are **all** she wanted, just you … and me.’ The tears were now feely spilling down her face but she didn’t make a move to clear them.

‘Things had changed and there wasn’t any way for them to go back to how they were. As you got older I did try to work things out for your sake, but it was always nagging at the back of my mind. I loved your mother, but she also disgusted me at the same time. The night of the accident, we’d had a huge argument about... that woman. She stormed out of the house with you on her hip and just the clothes on your backs. I didn’t expect tha… I thought that she was just taking you to a motel for the night, giving us time and space to calm down. But that was the last time I saw the …’ she sighed heavily, ‘I loved your mother, I just didn’t know how to love her all the time.’

He at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself even If Asami did sense that he wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

‘And what ever happened to Kiyomi?’

‘You know, you’re a lot more like Yasuko than I ever realised.’ She wiped her face and narrowed her eyes at him.

‘Stop. Avoiding. The question. What happened to Kiyomi?’She repeated

‘I haven’t seen her since the accident.’

Asami stood up and made motions to leave, she couldn’t even look at Hiroshi. He had no excuse for how he’d treated her mother besides his pride had been hurt and she felt sick that she was even related to the man.

‘Asami wait, don’t go.’ He pleaded and she turned to stare him down.

‘You’re right, I am a lot like my mother and that’s **never** going to change. Which is a good thing too, because my girlfriend loves me just the way I am.’ She smiled internally at the shocked and disgusted look on his face and she knew that her words had had the desired effect. Asami turned on her heel and marched towards the door.

Behind her she heard the drunken shouts of her father. ‘I don’t ever want to see you in this house again you disgusting whore.’ The next thing she knew his crystal glass was shattering on the wall next to her head. She didn’t even flinch, just continued her stride down the front steps to her car. She calmly started the engine and drove down the drive and along the street. Asani only made it a couple of block before she had to pull over, she couldn’t hold it together anymore and she burst into tears. She fumbled for her phone and called Korra, who answered on the first ring.

Before Korra could even get out a greeting she sobbed into the phone, ‘That man is … horrible… and dis-despicable, I can’t be*hic*lieve I’m even related to him.’

‘Shhhh, sweety, shhhh, calm down. Just breath for me okay.’ Korra calmly instructed. She took a few long calming breathes before she responded.

‘I’m somewhere only a few blocks from the mansion.’

‘Message me your location and I’ll catch a cab to where you are, then I’ll drive you home, because you don’t sound like she should be in control of heavy machinery at the moment. How does that sound.’

‘That sounds amazing, Korra.’

‘You hold tight, I’ll be there soon.’

‘Will do. And Korra?’

‘Yeah sweety?’

‘I love you.’

There was a long pause and Asami could feel her heart in her throat.

‘I love you too, Asami.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having severe writer's block with this story and that's evident in the long gaps between updates, so we have two options moving forward. 
> 
> 1) I keep going like I have been and chapters get irregularly published (sometimes months apart)  
> or  
> 2) I stop writing the story and just give you the ideas of where I had this story going, along with little bit's and pieces of writing that I've half constructed in my head of how certain scenes would have played out. 
> 
> let me know what you prefer. I'm happy either way.  
> And I promise that the next time I write a multi chapter fic, I'll have the whole thing written before I publish, that way if I don't finish it, no one is left in suspense.


	16. Highs and Lows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Bolin finally have their talk and Korra spends a day trying to get her head together after a unexpected riminder of her past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is the first one where the storyline doesn't progress chronologically after the proceeding, instead it happens alongside it. so this is Korra's missing day in between tea on Sunday and the phone call from Asami on Monday night. 
> 
> Sorry in advance, I wasn't expecting this chapter to go where it did, I honestly wasn't going to add this chapter but I needed the next part of the story from Asami's POV so I had to write a Korra chapter to make that happen. 
> 
> Trigger warnings here, it does contain a flash back to Korra's time as a marine and it's not pretty, nothing graphic, just disturbing.
> 
> Also thank you to cas_tielle for helping me fix this chapter up. I had problems writing Bolin but Cas helped a lot.

**Sunday Afternoon**

Running into Bolin and his lady friend after lunch had been unexpected and while Asami had dragged her away from the couple, essentially depriving her of her interrogation, she had called out to Bolin letting him know that she was expecting an explanation upon his return later in the evening. So here she was, sitting on her couch that was doubling as Bolin’s bed, biding her time until her returned. Waiting had never been something she was good at, and it was making her twitch with anticipation. She’d already dusted, vacuumed and de-odorised the apartment (boys really did smell) and now she was getting herself up to date on her neglected twitter account, which mostly consisted of her younger fans complaining about her absence of late, but that was to be expected.

As the time ticked past 7pm she called the local Fire Nation delivery place and ordered her usual (times two), then ate dinner while she waited some more. When she finished her meal she put the leftovers in the fridge and proceeded to get ready for bed. _I really hope he’s not avoiding me, that boy owes me an explanation as to why he’s been bumming in my place for the past week and why he’s not currently on a boat in the middle of the Mo Ce Sea._ After a shower Korra was sitting on the couch towelling off her hair when Bolin made his way through the door. She quirked an eyebrow up at him, along with a look that said _I’m unimpressed, now start talking._ But in classic Bolin avoidance he greeted her with a, ‘Nice anime hair.’ comment as he gestured towards her damp hair that was sticking out at odd angles.

‘Bolin, you’ve been living in my apartment for a week now with no explanation. Are you ready to talk to me yet? I promise I won't get mad.’

‘Yes Ma’am’

The use of the term ‘Ma’am’ had always irked her when used by her friends but now that she was a civilian it pissed her off even more

‘Bolin, I was higher ranked than you when I was in the Marines, but now that I’m retired, you can drop the ‘Ma’am’ bullshit.’

‘Sorry Korra.’

Korra approached her friend pulling him into a tight hug and ruffling his hair. ‘That’s better.’ She pulled away from the boy then lifted his chin to look straight in his eyes, ‘Now start talking Bo.’

Bolin took her hand and directed her to the couch, the both sat down, Korra sitting sideways with her back resting on the armrest and Bolin staring blankly at his hand in his lap clearly at a loss as to where to start his story.

‘How about you start whith why you aren't currently on a boat in the middle of the Mo Ce Sea.’ Korra suggested.

‘Well, I resigned, I quit, I became un-enlisted; whatever you want to call it, I’m a civilian now, just like you. Well not just like you, I didn’t get a fancy pension plan like you. That’s why I’m here I needed a place to stay.’

Korra rubbed her face and tried to take in what her friend had just told her, while Bolin looked her her with a goofy hopeful grin on his face.

‘That doesn’t explain why **here** though, what about Mako? Isn’t he in Ba Sing Se? or Principal Beifong? I’m sure that she would let you stay with her. Not that I don't like having you around of course.’ which she emphasised by giving him a playful punch to the shoulder.

‘Why I’m **here** , directly relates to the **why** I left. You see, I … met a girl. And she’s beautiful and funny and smart and I could just stare into her eyes for hours on end. We met when I had a weekend R &R pass to Ember Island. We saw each other across the volleyball net and it was love at first sight, as soon as I looked into her brilliant green eyes I knew that she was the girl for me. I didn’t even have to do my regular “macho guy” shtick, she likes… me.’ He let out a sigh and his face glazed over, apparently lost in thought.

‘So I take it that this was the girl from the tea shop yesterday.’ She asked trying to prompt him into finishing the story.

‘Yeah, well, you see she’s a pilot. Her and her co-pilot share a place here in the city. I knew I wouldn’t likely get to see her again if I stayed with the NF because she’s always flying and I’m always at sea. But she gets one week off a month and she spends it here in town, so I gave it all up... for her.’

Korra got up and made her way from the couch to the fridge, collecting two beers before offering one to Bolin. She couldn’t blame him, she knew what the love lives of people in the armed forces were non-existent but she also knew that Bolin didn’t have anything to fall back on, sometimes the boy was just too spontaneous for his own good.

‘So tell me about her, she sounds pretty special, what’s she like?’

Bolin’s face lit up when he realised that she wasn’t going to give him a grilling. ‘Oh Korra, you’ll love her. She’s well read, she laughs at my jokes, she has the cutest little smile and she have a love for life.’ He suddenly became very quiet and started to play with a slub in the denim of his jeans, she knew this look; she’d known him for long enough to know that there was more to the story.

‘Bo, what aren’t you telling me?’

He refused to meet Korra's eye as he spoke to his lap ‘Her name is Opal.’

‘That’s a nice name.’

He looked back up at Korra with a pained expression. ‘Beifong, Korra; Opal Beifong. She’s Lin’s niece. That’s why I haven’t told Mako or Lin, neither of them will approve, I know it.’

The poor kid couldn’t catch a break; at school his brother had always been the better academic and always ahead of him when it came to drills. Bolin was always second to either Mako or Korra or sometimes both. Whenever something good seemed to happen to him there way always a downside.

‘Bo, you can stay here as long as you need. Do you have any idea what you want to do with your life now you’re a civilian?’

He shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a folded up news paper clipping, then passed it to Korra, she unfolded it and looked at it confused not really sure what she was looking at. ‘um, this is a personal ad for someone looking for a “Mistress”’

‘No not that, the other side, it’s an ad for acting classes.’ He looked up at her a little bashfully, ‘I’ve always wanted to act, I’ve just been too ashamed to admit it but Korra, this is my chance, a fresh start. What do you think?’

‘I think that you’ll make a terrific actor.’ She knew that Bolin needed her support in this, even though he came across as a tough guy, he was a fragile being, and he became easily discouraged if shown doubt.

‘Thanks Kor, you’re the best.’ He threw his arms around her and pulled her in for a bone-crushing hug, almost causing her to slosh her beer. The rest of the evening they spent talking about Opal and how the two of them had been inseparable during their shared weekend on Ember Island. After Bolin had fallen asleep, Korra made her way bed and sent off a ‘good night’ message to Asami before falling asleep herself.

_\---_

_*drip*_

_…_

_*drip*_

_…_

_*drip*_

_…_

_*drip*_

_Each splatter of water against her forehead felt like a nail was being driven into her head. She closed her eyes and tried to squirm away from the endless barrages of water droplets but the restraints binding her were too tight. Her nerve-wracked brain amplified all the sounds in the room until the snarling laugh of her guard sounded as if they were **in** her head. Her wrists and ankles ached from were they were tightly bound to the gurney that she was restrained on. Her stomach cramped with hunger, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d eaten; time had lost all meaning. The drugs inching through her veins made everything feel **more** ; more crawly, more chilling, more frightening. She couldn’t trust her senses, was that shadow in the corner of her eye another dreamed up monster? Was the laugh really coming from the guard or was she laughing, had she finally snapped? _

_The door slammed open and the balled man entered. His face twisted and morphed and as he cam into view his mouth seems to grow in size as he laughed at her. She glanced at the plastic bag in his hand as he tossed it up and down a couple of times._

_‘Time for new bag.’ He leered, and he moved to fiddle with the IV stand next to her._

Fuck you! _It felt like she was screaming but she knew no words were escaping her lips. Her tongue felt fat in her mouth. And she grimaced at her own inability to throw insults at the man._

_He leaned in close so she could make our every pore on his face. ‘How much longer do you think it will take them to send a rescue party for you? Hum? But I guess the real question is, will you that that long?’_

_She was seething in anger, breathing short heavy breaths through her nose, trying to focus all her attention into getting the muscles in her mouth to bend to her will_

_‘ffff…ff…ff’, she stopped to catch her breath, ‘ff…fuck… y...yo…you!’, she glared at him as she saw his face tick in anger. She watched helpless as he pulled back his hand and struck her across the face._

_Everything went black._

Korra woke panting and sweating, she rolled onto her side and reached for her phone, 0 _3:46 at least I got a few hours sleep._ She rolled over onto her back again and tried to calm her breathing. It was the most vivid dream she’d had for a while, usually it was a snippet here or there, but the memories from the early days were the most vivid.

Being that it was almost morning and she wasn’t going to get back to sleep anyway, Korra decided to go for her morning run early. As she was getting ready so couldn’t shake the memory of the dream and her apartment was feeling too small, so she through a change of clothes into a back pack along with her phone and wallet, and decided to finish her workout in a neighbouring park then spend the rest of the day out side. Korra quickly scribbled a note for Bolin telling him that she'd be home later in the day.

\---

Her feet pounded the pavement, each step felt like it was grounding her even more in the here and now. The cold morning air felt like ice in her lungs but she relished in the pain, it kept her awake and focused. She ran, this wasn’t her normal route, she ran through parks and along bike tracks that ran like arteries through the city. She ran along man roads and over bridges. She passed joggers and people walking their dogs. She passed paper delivery boys and the cities homeless stirring from their slumber. She ran until the houses gave way to skyscrapers and the early morning commuters. She slowed her pace and her lungs burned with each breath she took and looked around for a newspaper kiosk to buy some water from (she didn’t really trust the cities public drinking fountains, they always smelt of urine).

After some water and rest on a nearby bench she looked to the skyline to gain her bearings. She could see Future Industries tower in the over to her left so she figured that Avatar Park must be only a couple of blocks away. Her legs almost gave out on her when she went to stand up, she didn’t realise how much of a toll the run had had on her body. She shucked her pack back onto her back and jogged the remaining blocks to the park. She was comforted to see other people their with their personal PT’s running drills and figured that this was the place to jump into the conditioning part of her morning work out.

By the time she’d finished both her conditioning and yoga, the sun had risen and resisted the urge to go surprise Asami at – she checked her phone – 07:30 in the morning. Instead she sent her through a message wishing her luck with her day. Yesterday over tea Asami had told her that she was thinking to tracking down her mothers friend and that she also needed to talk to her father about her mother. Asami had seemed confidant in her decisions and had talked herself into confronting her father today. Korra hoped the exchange would go well, Asami was an emotional mess about the whole thing, not that she’d let it show, but Korra was starting to pick up on all the sad smiles and distant looks, especially after their dinner on Saturday night.

She made her way to a public rest room and changed out of her training clothes into her civvies. She then made her way over to Yue Bay and bought breakfast from one of the venders that were set up. Korra stared out over the bay as she ate her bacon and egg mini pizza and contemplated what to do with her day. She pulled out her phone again and dialled Asami, _she might have some ideas about what I can do for the day,_ no answer. She stowed to phone back in her pocket and re commenced looking over the bay when her sight settled on two small islands in the bay that had ferries chugging along between them. Korra pulled out her phone again and a quick Google search reviled that one island was a museum dedicated to the founders of the city and the other was the supposed ancestral home of one of the founders that now doubled as a day spar and restaurant. _What the hell? If I’m going to make this city my home I might as well brush up on its history._

The ferry ride over to the first island didn’t take too long but she tried to message Asami again to see how her day was going, but still no reply. The museum on the island was a bit of a bust; it was more of an information centre than a museum with to actual displays or relics. And the information was dubious at best with nothing sounding like it was based on fact, but it made for interesting reading non the less.

The day spar turned out to be exactly what she needed. A full body deep muscles massage that worked out all of her knots, a mud bath, followed by a mani-pedi, she was feeling like a new person, refreshed and free of the ghosts of her past that had haunted her this morning. The restaurant turned out to serve organic vegan cuisine, that while wasn’t what she’d usually choose to eat, the food was surprisingly palatable and she even ordered extra so that she could surprise Asami with lunch.

A brisk walk and couple of unanswered phone calls and messages later, Korra found herself standing outside of Future Industries tower with her phone in her hand and the take away in the other. She hesitated calling Asami’s work line, _maybe she’d avoiding my calls, or she could be really busy and doesn’t want to be disturbed or she could have just left her phone at home, I wouldn’t be surprised, she is a little distracted at the moment._

Korra phoned through to Asami and immediately forgot her nerves when she heard Asami’s phone voice, _Oh my spirits she is adorable._ The phone call didn’t last too long, and even though Asami sounded stressed and worried about having to talk to her dad, she didn’t sound like she was in the mood for a surprised lunch visit. Korra tore her eyes away from the tower and made her way to the nearest train station. On the way she saw a homeless man scrounging around in a dumpster and she gave him the food she’d indented to give Asami. She was feeling a little disheartened about how things had gone with Asami but the smile on the man’s face made her feel better about herself. _Just because I’m feeling a little needy at the moment doesn’t mean that Asami doesn’t need her space, she’ll call when wants to. She hasn’t rejected you, she’d just got her own stuff going on._ Korra boarded the train and made her way home. She figured that Bolin should be away by now and he was really good at making her forget her troubles, even if it did mean that she’d have her arse handed to her in Wii bowling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how's everyone feeling after that? 
> 
> let me know what you think.
> 
> please talk to me, the more comments I receive the more compelled I feel to write. when I don't receive comments it feels like i'm throwing words out into the void. so please let me know that you think even if it is criticism.


	17. Everyone cries because the Past never stays in the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami begins her search for her mother's mysterious ex-girlfriend while Korra takes a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read chapter 16 recently I've rewritten it with only minor changes, but I have hopefully captured Bolin better.  
> Not a whole lot happens this chapter but this is certainly a turning point in the story. things start to happen after this.

The warm body next to her radiated heat and she moved to snuggle in closer only to be greeted with a hipbone in the face. Asami opened her eyes to find a very tiered looking Korra sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard. There were bags under her zoned out eyes and all of the bounce and energy she usually held seemed non-existent, she looked exhausted. Asami reached out to take one of Korra’s hands in her own.

‘Korra?’ she asked tentatively, the other woman shook her head, as if to bring herself back to reality.

‘Morning sleepyhead.’ she replied with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, they still looked haunted, like little glass orbs keeping her enemies trapped inside.

Asami shuffled herself up the bed so that she was in a sitting position next to her girlfriend. ‘Have you slept at all?’

The smile morphed into a sad grimace as she responded, ‘No, I was watching over you. I haven’t seen anyone like that in a long time. You cried so much last night and when I carried you up here from the car last night, you clung to me as if your life depended on it. Asami I don’t know exactly what happened last night but I couldn’t just go to sleep and let you face your daemons on your own, I needed to make sure you slept alright.’ It broke her heart just a little to think that she’d deprived Korra of a night’s rest just because she couldn’t keep her shit together. Korra reached up to ran her fingers through her hair but she stilled Korra’s hand against her face with her own.

‘Thank you for looking after me.’ She looked right into Korra’s eyes and gave her a smile and hope she understood just how truly grateful and lucky she was to have her in her life. ‘But I feel terrible that I’ve kept you from sleeping,’ Korra made to a movement to object but Asami quieted her with a finger to her lips, ‘now lie down and get some rest. And when you wake up, I’ll have lunch ready.’

‘Don’t you have work?’

‘Let me worry about that you just need to sleep.’

She helped Korra snuggle under the covers and then placed a kiss to her forehead. ‘Sweet dreams.’

Asami was surprised that Korra didn’t put up more of a fight but with how fatigued she looked she couldn’t say she was too surprised.

Once down stairs Asami retrieved her phone from her purse that Korra had deposited on the kitchen counter the night before and sent a message off to her colleagues explaining to them that she would be taking an indefinite leave from work. She had accumulated almost 11 months worth of annual leave during her time at Future Industries, as well as the 3 months awarded to her for 10 years long service, so she could afford the time away. She’d been thinking about this since she’d made the decision to look for Kiyomi but she’d planned on tying up some loose ends first, however now after everything that happened with her father, she just needed to get out of there at soon as possible. She also let them know that she would remain contactable if an emergency arose that required her attention.

Over on the coffee table Asami fired up her laptop and began her search for her mother’s closest friend. She sat staring at the Google home screen for about half an hour not sure of what to search, all she had was a single name, and who knew how many Kiyomis were in world, she didn’t even know her last name to help narrow down the search, or if she even had a last name. She stood up and paced the living room trying to clear her head.

_Think Asami, think. What do you know?_

_She was friends with mum._

_Okay good, what else?_

_They went to college together._

_Better, anything else?_

She paced some more trying to remember anything else her mother had written about her. She would have consulted the journal, but that was upstairs and she didn’t want to disturb Korra.

_Mum mentioned something about a gallery showing._

_Kiyomi’s an artist._

Asami had her start. She sat back down on the couch and started to search for any artists or gallery exhibits with the name Kiyomi attached. The search took a little while and she found almost a dozen people who fit that description. She slowly whittled down the list by ruling out those who would be too old or too young to have gone to college with her mother, which left her with a list of five names. Three of the five were from the Earth Kingdom so that rules them out, one was from the Northern Water Tribe and the other was an Air Nomad monk. All her excitement drained from her. Obviously whoever this woman was, she wasn’t a successful enough artist to warrant being news worthy. She was feeling disheartened, but she wasn’t going to give up. She knew that her mother had attended the Fire Nation College, so there might be a way for her to access past student’s files, to be able to retrieve contact details. Asami was about to start her search when she heard a loud scream from upstairs.

‘Korra?’

She bolted up the stairs to find Korra thrashing in the sheets. There were tears rolling down her face and she kept sobbing, ‘no, please not another one.’ Asami hurried to the bed and put a reassuring hand on Korra’s shoulder as she sat herself on the edge of the bed.

‘Shhh, Korra. No one here is going to hurt you. You’re safe here.’ She gently rubbed circles into Korra’s back trying to sooth the sleeping woman, not wanting to distress her further by waking her. Korra’s breathing slowly returned to normal and she rolled over to face Asami.

‘They just kept shooting them and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.’ She sobbed. Korra threw her arms around Asami’s waist and held her close. She resumed her circular motions on Korra’s back and just sat there as her girlfriend cried.

Asami didn’t know the exact details of what Korra had been through, none of the general public did and she guessed what information had been published was only a small fraction of what really happened. But she did know that during the mission that Korra had gained her fame for, terrorists had executed almost two-dozen Air Nation Peace Keepers, and she figured that this might have something to do with her girlfriend’s current state. She felt Korra pull away from her and watched as she dried her eyes with the collar of her shirt. She smiled down at her.

‘Try and get some more sleep sweety. You’ve only had about an hour and a half’s worth.’

‘Stay with me?’ she quietly pleaded.

‘Of course. Scoot over a bit.’

Korra wriggled over to one side of the bed making room for Asami to sit down better, their position a mirror of when she’d woken up this morning. She rested her arm along Korra’s back and held the hand that had been slung over her legs.

‘Thanks Sáms.’ Korra murmured into her lap, ‘I sleep better when you’re around.’ The last words came out so softly that Asami almost missed them and before she could formulate a reply, Korra had drifted back to sleep.

She sat there for a long time watching her girlfriend sleep. Taking comfort in watching the rise and fall of her back as she took slow but steady breaths. She looked so young while she slept, not the war hardened 27 year old that the world knew, but a delicate girl who didn’t look any older than 22, someone she suspected that no one else ever saw. She cursed the world for all it had taken from this woman; the world was always taking and never giving back. People praised her for her heroics but what did they know of the toll it took on her and what were they doing to return the favour? She was lost in thought about how she could help Korra, when the woman started to giggle.

‘Stop Sáms, that tickles’ she stilled her hand fearing that she’d woken Korra up but the woman remained peacefully asleep with a content smile on her face.

Asami’s thoughts drifted back to her computer downstairs and the search she had been about to conduct when Korra started to scream. She wanted to get back down there but knew she couldn’t leave Korra. Instead she reached over to the draw of her bedside table to retrieve the journal, thinking that she would scour it for any more clues about her mother’s mystery ex-girlfriend, then she saw the photo album that she’d also placed there. She picked it up and started to flip through the pages. When she’d taken it out of the box she’d only glanced at it not taking much notice of the people in the photos but now, after reading her mother journal, she figured that it might hold some missing pieces to the puzzle. One of the first photos in the album is of a very exhausted Yasuko in a hospital bed holding onto a newborn Asami. Her hair is plastered to her face and she looks like she’s been dragged threw the underside of the spirit world and back but the look of love and contentment in her eyes as she looked at her daughter, was a little overwhelming. The next couple of pages were filled with pictures of a wrinkly newborn Asami, all swaddled up. Then on the next page was another photo of her mother taken in hospital but in this one she looked rested, her hair all neat and brushed and sitting on the hospital bed next to her is a woman about her own age with a short dark bob holding Asami. The two women are smiling at the camera while the baby was asleep in the other woman’s arms.

Asami took the photo out of the book and looked at the names on the back ‘Yasuko, Kiyomi and Baby Asami, 29/10/86’ it **was** Kiyomi and it was taken the same day as the first journal entry. Asami scanned the album for any more photos containing the woman, but there was nothing. She placed the Album to the side and studied the woman in the photo she removed. She hoped that looking at the woman might help her remember her from her own youth. Kiyomi had straight black hair that was cut just above her shoulders with a fringe that looked like it was the process of growing out and sat partially across one of her eyes. Her eyes looked to be burnt golden colour but they were friendly. She looked young, the dimples on her cheeks making her look like she was no older than 16. _But they were young. Mum was only 24 when I was born, younger than I am now. She didn’t even make it to her 30 th birthday. _She felt the tears at the back of her throat but she held them back; she’d cried enough today. She placed the photo on top of the album and wriggled her way down the bed so that she was lying next to Korra. She snaked an arm under her head and pulled her in close. She’d lost enough people in her life and she decided that she was going to do everything she could to protect those she still had.

‘You said something about food.’ Korra groaned without opening her eyes while a faint smile was poorly concealed at the corner of her lips.

Asami had to laugh, whatever troubles haunted Korra, she had a unique set of coping mechanisms to deal with them, one of which was food.

‘In a minute, there’s something I want to ask you first.’

‘Hmmm.’ Korra opened her eyes to look at her.

‘You said before that you sleep better when I’m around.’ Korra’s smile only faulted for a second before she nodded in agreement. ‘Well I know it might seem a bit rushed, but do you want to move in with me?’ she waited for a response, as Korra just stared back at her clearly stunned, so she hastily continued, ‘It was just an idea, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just thought that I- it might help you sleep. And I love having you around. Besides I’ve just taken an indefinite holiday from work and I could use the company. But I understand if you don’t want to, you’ve got your own place and…’ Korra capturing her lips in a kiss cut her off from her ramble.

‘Yes.’ Korra replied as they broke from the kiss. ‘I love you Asami and I would love to move in with you. Now where’s that food I was promised?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't see that coming did you? (or maybe you did, I don't know)  
> Does this decision seem rushed to you, nahhh, nothing could possibly go wrong here.
> 
> As always comments are hugely appreciated. 
> 
> Also I want to get this story finished quickly because I have two other stories that I'm working on that I don't want to post until I have them finished. and I'll have more time to finish them once I have this on out of the way.


	18. It's all about sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is full of surprises for Korra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some fluff (maybe smut?) after the past few angsty chapters.

It was after lunch by the time that Korra started the return trip to her apartment. Her and Asami has spoken some more about Korra moving in and decided that even though they’d only known each other for three weeks, it had been such a whirlwind romance, that the decision felt right. It was also agreed that since Korra owned her apartment that she would keep it, she even thought that Bolin might like to stay at her place and once he found himself a job he could pay rent (or not, she wasn’t really hurting for money). So the plan for the afternoon was that Asami would stay at her place and finish off some work that she had to get finished before her leave of absence and Korra would return home and pack up her personal belongings (well two suitcases of clothes and a couple of personal items).

Since she’d taken a taxi to pick up Asami the night before, Korra was catching the train home and Asami was going to swing by and pick her up later in the afternoon. She relaxed into the seat on the train and put on the headphones Asami had lent to her and listened to some music to drown out the usual commotion of the city train. She checked her emails and saw that she had a job coming up the following week at a resort on Ember Island, where she would be giving a talk on team building to the staff, _Jackpot! The resort is also supplying expenses’ and accommodation for an additional 3 nights plus it’s a twin room._ She figured that it would be a nice get away for her and Asami with the added bonus of being free, _Thank you baby Raava._

The elation about the Ember Island trip combined with the excitement about moving in with Asami had Korra distracted. All the way back to her apartment she was practically dancing, things were finally starting to take a turn for the better in her life. When she got home she threw her keys on the kitchen counter and made her way to her bedroom but upon opening her door all excitement was forgotten.

There are certain things in this world that most people are lucky never to see; some of these things are gruesome other things are just disturbing. Korra had seen many things that fell into both categories; she had the disturbing memory of watching some guy fuck her girlfriend (now ex girlfriend) doggy style while said girl was going down on her (that had been the first last and only time she would agree to a threesome with a guy, she was just way too gay for that) and this sight in front of her now was a close second on the disturbing scale. Upon opening her bedroom door she was greeted with the sight of Bolin’s very naked hairy arse while he had sex with his girlfriend **in her bed**. Bolin; her best friend since she was 6; the closest person she had to a sibling, screwing his girlfriend in the very same bed that she herself had never slept with anyone in.

‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?’ The words were out of her mouth before she’d even removed her headphones. Part of her wanted to run to the bathroom and bleach her eyes, another pert of her wanted to back away and pretend that she didn’t just walk in on that, but the very dominant part of her as thinking, _this is my room and I should not be the one forced to leave._ She stood her ground with her arms crossed in front of her chest while Bolin and his girlfriend tried to cover themselves, the former opting to cover himself with a pillow and she cringed at the sight, _I’m going to have to burn all my sheets and pillows, the are ruined forever. Wait – I’m moving in with Asami, am I over reacting? He doesn’t know that though, I’m going to make him squirm._

‘You see, I thought that with you leaving so late last night for a booty call that you wouldn’t be home until the afternoon, see I invited Opal around, her housemate was at their place and so there’s no privacy and Opal’s kinda loud it would have just been awkward.’

Korra slapped a palm to her face, ‘First, Too much info Bo, second, I didn’t leave for a “booty call”’ which she emphasised with air quotes, ‘Third, I want to know why are you in MY bed?’

At this question the girl in the bed spoke up, ‘You see that was my idea.’ She admitted shyly, ‘Have you ever had sex on a couch? It’s really uncomfortable and Bolin and I were going to wash the sheets and everything.’

Korra took a deep breath and closed her eyes, _1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,_ then exhaled. ‘I am going to close the door and you two are going to get dressed, then we are going to have a conversation.’ She made a move to close the door but Bolin cut in before it was closed.

‘Our clothes are actually out there on the couch can you throw them into us?’ She sighed and reluctantly retrieved their scattered clothing before throwing them through the door and slamming it.

\---

The talk with Bolin went about how she had expected it to. He and Opal were really apologetic about the whole thing and once she’d recovered from her initial shock of the situation she relaxed and then let them in on the news about her moving in with Asami. Bolin was excited for her and pulled her into a tight platypus bear hug, he even let out a squeal of delight when she told him that he could stay at her place rent free. It hadn’t taken her long to pack up her belongings and Bolin even carried both her bags down to the car for her when Asami swung by to pick her up, before he quickly bounded back upstairs, and she was sure he was going to finish what she’d interrupted.

Korra and Asami were driving back to Asami’s place, well, their place and Korra felt like she couldn’t be happier. _I’m moving in with my girlfriend, my super sexy, super smart girlfriend and we get to go on a holiday next week, that I have yet to surprise her with._ She couldn’t keep the goofy grin off her face even though the muscles in her cheeks were starting to burn from over use. Korra looked over to Asami and found it hard to believe that any of this was real, Asami gave her a sideway glace and smirked at her.

‘So you never did tell me why your friend showed up uninvited to your apartment.’ Korra was taken aback by the comment completely forgetting about that in all the drama of the past two days.’

‘Long story short, he met a girl and quit job with the United Forces and followed her to Republic City. She’s a pilot and he is going to take acting classes.’ She stated matter of fatly, ‘Oh and I just walked in on them having sex in my bed.’ Asami gawked at her for a second before returning her attention back to the road.

‘That must have been embarrassing?’

‘Yeah, I could have handled it better but I was in shock; I just stood there and shouted at him, but in my defence I had been in my own little happy bubble so I didn’t realise the clothes strewn around my apartment.’ She really didn’t want to dwell on the thought too much, the image in her head was making her nauseous, ‘Oh, also, how do you feel about an all expense paid trip to Ember Island next week? I have a gig at a resort there and they are putting me up in a twin room for the week with meals and travel included.’

‘That actually works in really well, because I was going to ask you how you felt about coming to the fire nation with me to try and find Kiyomi. I couldn’t find any info online so I figured that I would pay my mum’s old college a visit to see if they had and contact into.’

‘So are he hunting down your mum’s lover before or after Ember Island?’

‘Well, I don’t know how long it will take, so after I guess.’ She paused and Korra caught the sly grin she sent her, ‘Besides that gives us a few days to get you settled into OUR place.’ Korra was too distracted thinking about what that could potentially involve that she missed when Asami had reached her hand across the centre console to rest it on her leg. She jumped a little bit at the contact but quickly trapped the hand to her leg, with her own. ‘On that topic, what should we do to celebrate our new living arrangement?’

Korra’s first thoughts were, _Sex, lots and lots of sex, in every room, on every surface, and probably multiple times in that giant bath._ Asami turned her head to look at her and she realised that she’d been quite for too long trying to think of an appropriate response and her cheeks flushed knowing that she’d been caught having ‘naughty’ thoughts.

Asami gave a soft chuckle and nodded her head, ‘Don’t worry, well get to that.’ Poking her tongue out at Korra, clearly having read her thoughts. ‘I was thinking beer, burgers and Netflix.’

‘Beer? Really Miss Sato, you drink beer?’

‘While I was working on Merlot here,’ which she emphasised by giving the steering wheel a pat and Korra wondered just how close she was to her car, ‘I spent a lot of time in my bay at the test track with the other mechanics. They were a bunch of cool people and every Saturday after we’d packed up the tools we’d sit around playing poker and drinking a nice cold beer. It was rather a satisfying feeling and wine doesn’t hit that same spot after a long day of labour. So yes dear Korra, I Miss Sato do drink beer and also eat dirty burgers.’

‘Okay, okay,’ Korra held her hands up in defence, ‘you drink beer, but what’s a dirty burger?’

‘Only the best burger you’ll ever eat.’

‘Does it have banana on it as well?’ she teased.

‘No but it does have beetroot, pineapple, a fried egg, grilled cheese, lettuce, caramelised onions, chilli tomato relish and a secret recipe patty, the burger place around the corner from my place makes them.’

‘That does sound pretty amazing. So, it sounds like beer, burgers and Netflix is the plan.’

\---

Asami was out getting the supplies for their evening and Korra was putting her things away in the spaces in the cupboard and draws that Asami had cleared for her. She was lining up her shoes under her freshly hung clothes when a strange box in the corner of the cupboard caught her eye. It looked like a makeup box but was about three times the size, Korra knew she shouldn’t look without permission, but her curiosity got the better of her and she peaked inside. Today was definitely the day for surprises, inside was an assortment of vibrators and she sat there stunned by the shear variety of them. She quickly closed the lid of the box and pushed it back to where she found it. That was not what she was expecting, Korra wouldn’t call herself a prude, but she didn’t realise that people would need more then one vibrator, she’d never used one herself, she was always a little too shy about actually going into a store to buy one and if she was honest, the idea of having a foreign object in her vagina was a little unnerving. The sound of Asami returning home drew her from her thoughts.

‘How’d you go? Did I clear enough space for you?’ she heard her call out from down stairs.

Korra got up and jogged over to the stairs and made her decent. ‘Yeah, there was plenty of space thanks.’

‘Cool. Sooo, What do you want to watch tonight?’

‘Actually, I was thinking we could just drink beer and talk, I don’t feel like watching TV.’

‘That’s okay, but here,’ she held out a beer for Korra to take ‘Go get yourself settled on the couch and I’ll bring over the food.

Korra sat down on the couch and took a large swig of her beer, enjoying the sensation of the cold liquid making its way down her throat. Asami approached her with two plates carrying their burgers and chips waitress style in one hand and her beer in the over. She bent down to put her beer on the coffee table before passing Korra her plate. ‘Here dig in.’

The pair didn’t talk much while consuming their meal and Asami was right, this was the best burger she had ever tasted, she felt the grease spilling down her chin after she’d finished her food and hopped up to head to the kitchen to clean her face.

‘Oh, while you’re up, could you grab me another beer?’

‘Sure thing babe.’

Korra quickly rinsed her face and retrieved two new bottles of beer from the fridge before returning to the couch.

‘So, what did you want to talk about?’

‘I don’t know, but I feel like she should be getting to know each other better, there is still so much about you I don’t know, like the beer thing.’

‘Okay how about, 20 questions?’ Korra frowned, she couldn't think of specifics she wanted to know, she just wanted more. ‘No? Oh I know, we could play never have I ever, you take a drink every time the other person says something that you have done.’

‘I know the rules, it was also known as, _let's get Korra drunk_ , in the Marines.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, I’ve done a lot of things.’

‘Okay I’ll start, never have I ever gone skinny dipping.’

Korra took a drink and went straight to her most obvious 'never'.

‘Never have I ever, gotten a guy off.’ Asami jokingly glared at her and Korra laughed while Asami chugged half her beer.

‘Never have I ever, had sex in a moving vehicle.’ Korra blushed and took a drink. ‘What? Really?’

‘Yeah, Bolin was driving and while this new recruit and I were making out in the back seat, making out turned into sex and Bolin exacted his revenge by taking us through a drive through.’ Asami was howling with laughter and even though it was at her expense the sound was musical and she was glad to hear the heiress so happy after the events of last night. ‘So, my turn. Never have I ever,’ she paused trying to think of something she hadn’t done, ‘been on the back of a motorcycle.’ It was lame but it was all she could think of. Asami finished her beer and got up to get them fresh ones.

‘Okay,’ she called out from the kitchen, ‘Never have I ever, had a threesome.’ Korra sculled the rest of her beer before Asami returned to the couch and merely raised an eyebrow at the empty bottle, ‘I guess I now understand why it’s called _let's get Korra drunk_.’

Korra blushed but was grateful that Asami didn’t press her for details, ‘Never have I ever, masturbated in a public place.’

‘Do the showers at work count as public?’

Korra laughed, ‘Yes!’

Asami took a large gulp of beer.

There game went back and forth like this until they’d each been though 4 beers, before Korra worked up the courage to mention something that had been nagging at her since her discovery that afternoon.

‘Never have I ever used a vibrator.’ She felt silly and nerves admitting that, but she knew Asami wouldn’t make a big deal out of it and she was right.

‘I can demonstrate for you, wait, you can watch, no, I can show, stupid words where are they, if it’s something you want to try I can help *hick* you with it.’ Asami was drunk and it was funny, her own head was feeling heavy but she was happy and Asami was happy and those were a lot of empty bottles on the table. She looked back to Asami who was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘What else haven’t you done?’

‘I’ve never tried scissoring, it just seems like some fictional move that no one does.’

‘Ohhh we should try that.’ Asami was clearly feeling the booze more than she was. ‘Now.’ She started struggling pulling her shirt off. Korra burst into a giggle fit watching her and Asami pouted at her once she was free from her shirt. ‘Get stripping.’ Korra didn’t think she was serious when she first mentioned it, but now she knew she was, _why not?_

They both shed themselves of clothing before Asami’s face turned pensive. ‘How should we try this, sitting? Lying down?’ it was like she was approaching it like a problem that has a solution and wasn’t even registering that it was about sex. Korra just marvelled at her girlfriend’s tunnel vision, even while drunk her mind was still analytical.

‘Lets try sitting.’

‘Okay’ Asami scooted closer to her and they turned to face each other. Asami weaved a leg between the back of the couch and Korra’s side and she felt it hold firmly against her back. Korra mirrored her position with her other leg trying not to laugh at the adorable amount of concentration Asami was showing. Asami moved in closer so that their clits were making contact and tried to rock into Korra. Korra tried to match her movements but they were completely out of sync and neither was getting the friction they needed. Korra lost her balance on the couch and found herself wedged on the floor between the couch and the coffee table with Asami on top of her, who was howling with laughter.

Asami pushed herself up and looked down at Korra, ‘maybe we should try this in a bed.’

‘Bright idea genius.’ She joked, poking her tongue out, Asami bent down and sucked the protruding tongue into her mouth, the kiss was sloppy and their teeth clashed and they were both way too drunk for this. Korra felt her head start to spin from the mixture of beer and a lack of oxygen from the kiss, she gently pushed Asami back who pouted at her again then stood up, ‘I thought you said something about moving this to the bed?’

‘I did, I’ll race you. Go.’ Asami was up and running before Korra could object by pointing out that they needed to clean up. Instead she let Asami go and she gathered up the beer bottles and empty plates and placed them on the kitchen bench before heading up to the bedroom. When she reached the top of the stairs she couldn't help but smile, Asami was lying face down on the bed passed out. Korra silently chuckled ‘light weight.’ before she moved and positioned Asami under the covers then climbed in and cuddled up next to her. ‘Sweet dreams my darling.’ She whispered as she pulled the other woman in close to her. ‘I love you.’

She was drifting of to sleep herself when she heard Asami mumble into her chest. ‘wuv you tooo.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! I don't know what to say about what you have just read. I had fun writing it. I'm not good at writing drunk people, sorry. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think of this, I wasn't going to post it and was trying to think of something else for this chapter but this is really all I could think of.


	19. Sex, sex and more sex.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the chapter title says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried something a little different with this chapter, I knew I wanted it to span the space of the week at Asami's place but I wasn't sure how to do that without it feeling too disjointed. 
> 
> I hope it worked and that you don't get too lost.

 

Wednesday

Why did she ever think that it was a good idea to have a wall in her bedroom that was completely made of windows? Asami’s head throbbed as she groggily squinted her eyes trying to avoid their exposure to the harsh morning light. She groaned as she rolled over to throw her arm over Korra and pull her in close only to be greeted by an empty sheet. She rolled back to her previous position and opened her eyes a little wider to see if she could determine where her girlfriend was and if she could convince her to come back to bed to snuggle. Asami’s eyes landed on the glass of water on her bedside table with a blister pack of painkillers sitting next to it and thanked the spirits that she had Korra looking out for her. She pulled herself to a sitting position and refrained from sating her parched mouth with the water before she had a chance to down the painkillers.

As her senses returned to her Asami heard a soft grunting coming from downstairs and she was reminded of he first time Korra had spent the night at her place. If she couldn’t cuddle Korra she could definitely stand to watch her do push-ups. The thought of Korra’s taught muscles made her core throb but she knew that ‘physical activity’ would only make her hangover worse. Asami climbed out of bed and was about to make her way to the stairs when she noticed her apparent nakedness and decided to fix that first. She took a couple of moments to stumble around her room looking for clothes, which wasn’t as easy as she would have liked owing equal amounts to her hangover and to the fact that the draws that yesterday held her clothes now held Korra’s. She did manage to find her underwear draw and pulled on a tank top and a pair of underpants, reasoning that it was too much of an effort to find pants.

Asami made her way down the first few steps and then stopped to enjoy the view. She gently lowered herself to a sitting positions and watched as Korra’s taught back muscles rippled and her arm muscles flexed with each repeat of the up and down movement. She bit her bottom lip and let out a low moan as she imagined those strong arms wrapped around her and scratching her nails down that lean back. The noise must have been louder than she originally thought because Korra stoped at the apex of a repeat and turned her head to look at her.

‘I take it you’re a morning sex, kind of person?’ Korra teased. Asami felt her face flush and buried it in her hands.

‘It’s not that – It’s just you – I mean yes – no. grrr argh.’ She took a breath to clear her flustered mind. ‘I’m a, you doing push ups in the morning, kind of person,’ she admitted, ‘but my head hurts too much for morning sex and I don’t feel like sweating alcohol. Also how are you not hung-over?’

Korra moved to a sitting position and flashed her her signature lopsided smile and Asami smiled back at her as she felt the butterflies rise in her chest, _I really do love that smile._

‘Well you would have heard the expression _drinks like a Fire Nation sailor._ Well, Marines are worse and you my dear, are a light weight.’ Asami pouted at that last part, here she was feeling like shit and Korra was making fun of her. ‘Don’t get me wrong you are an adorable light weight, especially when you pout like that but a light weight non the less. And don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that.’ Korra was now standing and making her way up the stairs to Asami. ‘How about I get you back to bed and you can sleep through the rest of your hangover?’

‘Will you hold me?’ she asked, hating how needy she sounded.

‘Always.’ Korra bend down and scooped Asami up in a bridal hold and Asami snuggled into her, breathing in her heady sweaty sent. As Korra laid her down on the bed and tucked her in she felt a pang of loss when Korra turned towards the bathroom.

‘Where are you going? You said you’d stay.’ She knew she was sounding childish but she felt like crap and didn’t care all that much.

Korra turned back around and made a show of smelling her sweaty pits. ‘I stink. I’m going to take a quick shower then I’ll be right back.’

‘I like the way you smell.’ She admitted as she held her arm out to pull Korra back towards her. _Victory._ Korra conceded and slipped under the covers beside her and held her close. Asami turned into the embrace and buried face in Korra’s chest and breathed deeply,  _I never want to forget this smell, it’s real, no perfumes or moisturisers, it’s rugged and sweet, it’s summer mornings when the air-con is broken, it’s just Korra._ She felt Korra’s lips gently brush her head as she fell back to sleep.

\---

She salaciously ran her tongue over Korra’s glistening back muscles, relishing in the salty flavour as she moved her mouth to nibble on her lover’s shoulder muscle, while her hands occupied other pursuits. Her left hand swirled one or Korra’s erect nipples between her fingers while her right played with the waistband of her panties and she felt the other woman’s breath hitch in her throat as a response to the teasing. She groaned into Korra’s ear ‘Tell me where you want my fingers.’

‘OH FUCK!’ the scream sounded like it was in ecstasy but it wasn’t coming from the Korra in her arms, the scene around her faded and she blinked her eyes a couple of times taking in the new scene before her. She could see that Korra was still in her sports bra and she followed the line of her shoulder muscles with her eyes, down to her arm, and then to where her hand with buried deep down in her work out shorts. Asami looked up to her girlfriend’s face that looked frozen in shock.

‘You- argh- you were groping me in your sleep.’ She spluttered out, ‘then you started taking dirty and I got all worked up, but I didn’t want to wake you.’

Asami felt her need grow, her dream had had a similar effect on her and she could feel her core throb with need and the sight before her was adding to it.

A soft ‘Oh?’ dripping with want escaped her lips.

‘A huh.’ Korra nodded in response.

‘Is there anything you need a _hand_ with?’ she asked as she crawled over to Korra, she knew the line was cheesy but she couldn’t resist.

‘I-uh- was close before you woke up, could you just hold me while I finish?’

She slipped in behind her girlfriend in a similar position to what she’d been in in her dream. Asami sucked Korra’s earlobe between her lips then purred into her ear, ‘Cum for me baby’ she watched as Korra’s hand vigorously worked beneath her shorts and she wished she could she watch what she was doing. Korra moaned out load and Asami felt her body heat up in her arms. Korra’s breathing became ragged as Asami slipped a hand under her lover’s bra and gently massaged her ample breast. Korra sucked in a breath when Asami pinched a nipple and let out a soft cry.

‘I’m… I’m… I’mmm… Arghhhhhhh!’ Korra’s body stiffened in her arms and then relaxed as she started to gently jerk with her aftershocks. Asami peppered her shining bronze neck with kisses and held her close until her breathing returned to a steady pace. She extricated herself from behind Korra and then crawled down to where her hand with still in her pants. She took a hold with the pants and panties with her hands and pulled them down…

Thursday

Exposing her bare to the world on the kitchen bench, she knew Korra wasn’t expecting this when she told her that she was going to eat breakfast but she’d been fantasising about going down on the woman again since they’d make love on Sunday. Asami ran the tip of her tongue through her wet folds and relished in the flavour. She held one hand under Korra’s hips and delicately skimmed her fingers along the brown thigh, causing her silky smooth skin to ripple with goose bumps. Korra’s hips rolled as she swirled her tongue around her clit and she could taste metallicness of the blood that rushed to the bundle of nerves. She looked up to make eye contact with Korra as she slowly dipped one of her fingers into Korra’s core while she continued her ministrations on her clit. Asami shivered at the feel of the wetness now engulfing her finger and was tempted to slip her other hand into how own dripping centre when Korra let out a loud moan, ‘Oh, fuck me Asami, that feels amazing.’

She continued the assault with her tongue while she slipt another digit into the writhing woman on the counter. Korra let out a gently whimper as her fingers brushed past a particularly spongy spot on her inner wall and that was when she decided that it was the best sound in the world and wanted to hear it again. She curled her fingers to press upon the spot again and she felt strong legs clamp onto her head, the third time she hit that spot the whimper turned into a soft cry and she felt the juiced of the woman before her squirt into her palm. She carefully turned her head to the side to kiss the inside of her lover’s thigh.

‘Don’t stop Sàms, don’t stop I’m close…

Friday

‘Now.’ Korra moaned as she straddled Asami face, the water from the shower raining down on her back. Asami looked up at Korra’s jiggling breasts and she was grateful that the woman above her was shielding her from the downpour allowing her to breath. Korra braced herself against the wall with her arms as her climax hit and Asami felt her warm fluids gush around her mouth and down her chin. She kept her motions going to draw out the orgasm to its limits while Korra continued to rock against her. Eventually Korra let out a satisfied sigh and rolled off of her looking slightly bashful. ‘That was… just… wow.’

‘That good huh?’ she asked sitting up.

‘Yeah, but I feel bad. Don’t get me wrong, the sex the last couple of days has been amazing but… you haven’t… I mean I feel bad that I haven’t been able to give you any sort of release.’ She looked down and Asami watched as the sprinkling water turned to rivulets that ran down her face. She didn’t want Korra to feel bad about not being to be able to get her off because it broke her heart to see Korra look so forlorn besides it wasn’t her fault, Asami knew the problem was in her own head and yeah, it was frustrating but she’d learnt to deal with it.

‘Korra, the fact that you care means the world to me but I’m okay really.’ She really wasn’t, she needed release but that wasn’t Korra’s burden.

‘Asami?’ Korra looked at her shyly and she wondered what she was thinking.

‘Yeah?’

‘Can I watch you? You said that you can get yourself off and I want to see you come undone and possibly hold you too.’

She felt the warm tears brim in her eyes at Korra’s touching admission.

‘Oh Korra.’ She reached out and pulled the other woman close to her. How had she been so lucky to find such a charming, caring and sensitive spirit like Korra. The water from the shower pattered over their tangled bodies and Asami nodded into Korra’s shoulder, not trusting her voice not to break with emotion. Korra pulled back and Asami couldn’t see anything but love in her dazzling blue eyes.

To say she was nervous was an understatement, Asami had never masturbated in front of anyone before but her built up frustrations were overriding her fear. She closed her eyes hoping that if she couldn’t see Korra she wouldn’t feel so intimidated. Her right hand made its slow decent down her torso while her other hand gently cupped a breast. She made sure she kept her head turned down so that she didn’t end up with a face full of water and not be able to breath. She ever so gently ran a finger through her wet lips and her hips gave an involuntary roll at the contact. She felt a soft whine escape the back of her throat as she repeated the motion. Even though she was experienced in pleasuring herself, this all felt so different, like she could feel Korra’s eyes watching her and it made her feel too excited. Her inner muscles clenched with anticipation and her nerve bud throbbed with need. _Breath Asami, relax and concentrate._ Asami felt like she was stretched between her two extremes, on one side, she rarely got off from manual stimulation alone because her mind was always overworking, never relaxed enough, always over thinking, she found it hard to let go, but on the other side, her body always became extra sensitive to even the most innocent of physical contacts and she’d always put it down to not really getting love and attention from a family as a child.

_Concentrate, Slow deep breathes, you can do this._ She applied pressure and slowly circled her clit with her fingers, Asami knew she didn’t need to tease herself, that she was already quite worked up from eating out Korra but she felt like she was putting on a show and even if she couldn’t see Korra, she imagined that she was enjoying it. Her hips were rolling and she could hold out on her need any longer, she worked two fingers into her slit until they reached the knuckles at her hand. Her body rolled with need forcing her palm to make contact with her clit. She needed this, needed this so much, she rapidly curled her fingers against the spot inside that she know so well, it felt so good, like someone was sending electric pulses through her whole body, but it wasn’t enough, she was worked up but there was no end in sight, she couldn’t do it.

‘I can’t do it.’ Asami screamed and scrunched her face up in frustration as the feeling of failure washed over her, she knew there would be tears running down her face and she hoped Korra didn’t notice them threw the water.

Asami was about to slump backwards lie on the floor, when she felt strong arms wrap around her.

‘Shhhhh, It’s okay Asami, It’s okay and I’ve got you.’ She could feel Korra’s words mixed with the falling water and splutter against her neck. One of Korra’s arms was warped around her torso under her chest holding her tight, which the other was making it’s way down her body and she felt fingers make their way between her palm and her clit. ‘Maybe I can help a little. You just worry about breathing, and working your fingers inside and leave to rest to me. ’

At any other time, Korra playing with her clit while she was this aroused would have made her want to crawl out of her skin, but today she was just too drained to register that it wasn’t her own hand. She relaxed back into the woman behind her as the Korra made the same circular motion that she’d just used on herself. Slowly Asami began to work her fingers, concentrating on hitting the right spot, trying not to think too hard about the fact that Korra had slid another and down between her legs to pull her swollen hood back. As the three hands worked in unison her body rolled with pleasure and she felt her climax nearing She blindly groped around behind her to try and pull Korra closer to it, it was starting to feel like too much, she couldn’t take it any more and just as she was about to tell Korra to stop, Korra switched to a rapid back and forth motion that felt like what her vibrator did and she crashed over the edge. She threw her head back onto Korra’s shoulder as she let out a wail of a cry as her body flopped from exhaustion. She felt Korra ease her to the floor where she bulled herself into a ball. She missed Korra’s warmth for a moment, only to realise that she’d shut off the water. She finally opened her eyes to see her girlfriend’s bright grin as she brushed tendrils of wet hair from her forehead.

‘Do you want me to hold you?’ She didn’t have the strength to vocalise a response just nodded, ‘Okay I’ll be back in a sec.’ She was about to protest, then she saw Korra return with a large white bath sheet that she draped over her keeping her warm. Then laid down beside her trowing one arm over her. To say that it was the single best experience of her life was an understatement, Asami didn’t think that she would never feel this good again. Fuck, she though getting herself off was good, this was a whole new level, she couldn’t believe that she’d been missing out on this for all those years. She gradually regained her strength and turned to face Korra.

‘Thank you.’ Was all she managed, but she tried to put as mush meaning into those two words as she possibly could. Korra gently kissed her on the lips, she could die happy if this was the way she would feel when Korra…

Saturday

Shook her foot lightly to free it from the her grasp, ‘Stop that.’

‘What? You don’t like it?’ Asami replied in a husky tone.

‘No, I don’t. I’ve never understood the whole toe sucking fetish, it doesn’t do anything for me.’ Asami tried to hid her disappointment, which she mustn’t have done too well because Korra hastily added, ‘But that doesn’t mean that I won’t be obliging if that’s something that you enjoy.’ Asami quickly turned bashful, truly realising that Korra was one of a kind and that she’d chosen her.

Asami looked down and shook her head, ‘You don’t have to, its stupid.’

Korra looed at her seriously, ‘Asami!’ she started and only continued once Asami was looking at her, ‘If it’s something that you enjoy, then it’s not stupid. Now, answer me this, do you have a kink for people sucking your toes?’ All she could give by way of an answer was a nod, ‘Then I will suck your toes like they’ve never been sucked before.’

‘What do you mean…

Sunday

‘You don’t own a swimsuit?’ how could a Marine now own a swimsuit?

‘I got rid of all of my military issue clothing when I moved to Republic City and I haven’t been swimming since.’

‘Well we don’t have time to go shopping now, since we leave tomorrow, so well have to buy you a pair when we get to Ember Island.’

‘And why is that?’ Korra asked. She knew her face was blushing but she didn’t want to admit to Korra what she was thinking so she mumbled her reply. ‘What was that, I didn’t catch that.’

She spoke up a bit louder and with a hint of annoyance that she didn’t mean, ‘Because I want to see what you look like in a bikini and then pull it off you with my teeth.’ 

‘Oh.’ Korra smiled innocently at her, ‘I guess well have to buy two pairs then.’ It was now Asami’s turn to look confused, ‘because I’m sure that I am going to have to rip yours off of you.’ She threw the sun hat she was about to pack in her bag at Korra, who yelped and ducked out the way. ‘That’s it, you’re uninvited, no Ember Island for you.’

She put on her best polar bear puppy eyes and looked over at Korra, ‘b...bu…but you promised.’ She quivered, knowing just how ridiculous she must look.

Korra held her arms wide, ‘Come here you big dork.’ She called over, ‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’ Asami wasn’t oblivious, she knew that this was what people referred to as the _honeymoon_ period of the relationship, but she honestly hoped that thinks between them would always be like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about typos and spelling and Asami having issues, and if it was frustrating to read I'm sorry, but just think how Asami feels.
> 
> As awlays, (I need to stop saying that, damn it Janet)  
> Comments are appreciated, to a lesser extent kudos and views, but they are still appreciated.
> 
> Next chapter will have more story in it, and we'll get to see an old face, someone neither of them know. Who ever could it be?


	20. The Fire Nation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami's search for her mother's ex girlfriend lead them on an adventure through the Fire Nation Capital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to leave this hear.

Ember Island was one of ‘The _’_ Holiday destinations in the world. The whole Island was essentially one giant resort, with the exception of the few private residences that belonged to the rich and famous, to be honest Korra was a little surprised that the Satos didn’t own a vacation house there or even a company owned villa. The week flew by fairly quickly; Korra would spend the mornings giving team building instruction, while Asami would spend her time reading a book by one of the Island’s many pools or at the day spar, then in the afternoons they would spend their time together enjoying the Islands many facilities (during which Korra found out the hard way just how competitive Asami was when it came to mini-golf). They did however end up having to buy more then two swimsuits as Korra lost the top half of her bikini when she dived into the surf and subsequently ended up have to wrap Asami’s sarong around herself to hide the fact that she was topless while she made her way back to their room.

The week came to an end and both women were feeling incredibly relaxed and they’d even grown closer. Korra had woken up during the night a few times and Asami was there to hold her and soothe her back to sleep and for Korra that meant more to her then all the amazing sex in the world. Asami was sitting on the bed in their room looking at her laptop while Korra was searching around the room for any stray items of clothing and she wasn’t sure how Asami’s g-string had managed to get stuck on the curtain rail, _whoops._ She looked over to Asami to ask if she knew how it got there, only to notice that she was furiously scribbling in her note book and pinching the bridge of her nose .

‘Ah, Asami? What’s up?’

Asami looked up at her, ‘Just writing down a few variations on our itinerary for tomorrow. I’m not sure what the transport options will be like once we get to Capital City; will we be able to catch a cab from the airport to the college or do we have to rely on public transport? Also, we don’t know how many Kiyomis were in attendance at the college during the time my mum was there, we might have to visit a few different places, some of them might not even be in the town. And that’s not even taking into account stopping for lunch and finding a place to stay, there are so many possibilities.’ Korra thought that Asami’s approach to this was just so ‘Asami’ and she tried not to laugh at it, she know that this was important to her girlfriend and she didn’t want to make her feel uneasy about the whole thing. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Asami.

‘How about you let me look at it? I did some strategic planning so I might be able to help, meanwhile you can retrieve your underwear from the curtain rail because there is no way I’ll ever be able to reach them.’ Which she indicated by pointing at the offending garment.

She looked over Asami’s notes and on a fresh sheet of paper she separated the day out into two-hour blocks, then marked in the things that had to happen an a specific order at the beginning of the blocks then made a list to the side of all the incidental things that could fill in the gaps between the order specific events depending on how much time there was. When she was finished she handed the sheet over to Asami who was packing away her toiletry bag in her suitcase. ‘How does that look?’ she asked.

‘That looks amazing, Thank you. I don’t know why I was having so much trouble with that, scheduling is usually easy for me.’ Korra could see the shame in her eyes and reached over to her girlfriend to rub soothing circles into the palm of her hand with her thumb.

‘You’re just anxious, that’s all and it’s perfectly understandable tomorrow is going to be a big day. Now how about you come over here, and take you’re top off.’ Korra pulled her gently closer to the bed but Asami remained firmly in place.

‘I’m really not in the mood for sex Korra.’

‘I know, and I wasn’t suggesting that. I was just going to offer you a back massage, it might help you relax a bit, since I know that you’re not going to sleep tonight.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Because if it was me, I wouldn’t be able to.’

‘Oh, Okay.’

\---

It was only a short cab trip from the airport to the suburbs surrounding Harbour City where the College was and but Asami still managed to have enough time to pull up a map of the campus and figure out the most direct route to the Administration building. Upon arriving at the college Asami was so excited that she forgot her bags in the trunk of the car and it was only because of Korra retrieving them, that she wouldn’t have to spend the week without a fresh change of clothes, although Korra knew that she could and would have bought a whole new wardrobe without breaking a sweat. She ran after Asami, throwing her own bag over her shoulder and pulling Asami’s along behind her as they made their way to the administration building.

The lady behind the administration desk looked kind and was in fact quite helpful after Asami explained what she was after and why, or so they thought. She’d told them that they needed to make their way to the hall of records, which was where they kept all their pre-digital information then she gave them directions to the building in question and wished them luck. What she didn’t tell them was that looking up the names in the student manifests for the appropriate years would only supply them with a citizen ID number that they would then have to take to the city hall and apply to receive the last known address matching the ID numbers.

They ended going over their allotted two hours in the records hall as half of that time was spent finding the appropriate filing cabinets and then trawling threw the thousands of names to make sure they didn’t miss any. Asami was stuck in her own little zone so after three hours Korra left her to take a look around the campus to see if she could find them anything to eat, leaving the bags at the front desk of the hall of records. She walked past students studying under trees and others playing Frisbees in a large grassy area for which she read a sign labelling it ‘The Great Court’, she passed other buildings that looked like museums and one that sounded like what she imagined a Future Industries factory would sound like. The whole place was so new and interesting, and she wondered what it would be like to attend college, everyone she saw looked like they were having fun and there was so much about the world she didn’t know, which to her was starting to seem odd, since she had spent 10 years of her life protecting it.

Eventually Korra followed her nose to a large refectory where she managed to pick up some takeaway noodles (even though they didn’t look too appetising), some beverage called ‘bubble tea’ that she guessed was a Fire Nation thing and a packet of fire flakes. She took her selection of food and started to make her way back to where she’d left Asami. On the way she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she juggled the food and drinks to answer it.

‘Hello.’

‘Hey, it’s me. Where are you?’ Asami.

‘Oh, I left to get us some food, I did tell you but you must have been to zoned out to register it.’

‘Now that you mention it food sounds amazing.’ And Korra heard her moan over the phone.

‘Well, I wouldn’t get your hopes up, it only just looks edible.’

‘That’s okay, we’ll have a big dinner, besides we’ll need it for our big day tomorrow.’

‘How big a day are we talking?’

‘Well I found twelve listings of Kiyomi for the time period, so big.’ She sounded a little overwhelmed by the shear number and Korra didn’t blame her.

‘Must have been a popular name. Look don’t get too far ahead of yourself, we still have to get addresses for them and chances are not all of them are still in the city.’

‘You’re right, I’m just so excited and nervous and overwhelmed all at the same time.’

‘Well come find me and have something to eat. I’m in the Great Court, it’s hard to miss it the large grassy area right in the middle. And don’t forget the bags.’

\---

After food and bubble tea (which turned out to be a combination of iced tea with tapioca pearls in it), Korra managed to convince Asami that they had to check into a hotel before they continued their mission to the city hall, because looking up twelve names would probably take longer than the three they had been expecting. They hailed a cab from the front of the college and Korra was about to take her phone out to look up accommodation, when she heard Asami give instructions to the driver.

‘The Four Nations Hotel please.’

‘Asami, are you sure? That place is expensive.’

‘Korra, look who you’re talking to, just because I don’t like to flaunt that I come from money doesn’t have to penny pinch. Besides the concierge would get upset if he found out I was in town and didn’t stay there. Besides, a perks of staying in one of their executive suits is free car rental and we could really do with the wheels.’

Korra couldn’t fault her logic it was just that not having to think about cost was strange concept to Korra, she was by no means hearting to money but she did have to spend wisely and Asami made it so easy to forget that she was probably one of the wealthiest people in the world (second only to Hiroshi).

Korra watched out the window as the cab wound it’s way through suburban streets then onto a main road that let out of Harbour City, she turned to Asami slightly confused, ‘Where are we going? Why are we leaving the city?’

Asami grinned at her then laughed as she pointed to the top of the mountain, ‘The Four Nations is in Royal Caldera City, only a couple of blocks from the Royal Palace.’

‘Oh, and I guess you happen to know the Royal Family as well.’ That had a sting to it that she wasn’t expecting and she looked over to Asami guiltily.

‘As a matter of fact, I have met the Crown Prince Iroh II.’ She stated as she shot Korra a glare, ‘but he was 15 at the time and I was only 10. Hiroshi had pulled me out of school for the week to accompany him on a business trip, now that I look back on it, I think he was trying to foster a relationship between the Satos and the Fire Nation Royals that he hoped would end in marriage.’ Korra didn’t miss the bitter tone in her voice. ‘Now tell me, what’s gotten into you? Why are you acting jealous.’

She didn’t know that’s why she was feeling but as soon as she heard the words, she knew them to be true, ‘It’s just that I’m only now realising that you are _The Asami Sato._ ’ She admitted flatly, ‘Back in Republic City, that was so easy to forget, there you were the woman who looked after me during my panic attack, the beautiful, talented, punk-rock woman who liked to cook and wear pretty dresses, the woman who needed me to hold her together when her world came crashing down, but out here, in the world, you’re rich and well connected, and I don’t think jealous is the right word, I think I’m intimidated and just wondering if I’m good enough.’ _And I was supposed to have an appointment with Tenzin this week, fuck, I’ll have to reschedule._

‘Korra honey, I’m still all of those things, and more, but please don’t put me on a pedestal, that’s one of the reasons I love you, because you treat me like a regular person. Besides, what the point of having money if I don’t spend it and it’s not like I’m running to the Future Industries office here and borrowing their company helicopter.’ Asami fixed her with a glared and she felt ashamed of herself, then Asami’s faced softened as she pulled Korra to her side across the back seat of the cab, ‘Just so you know, I’m glad you’re hear with me, I don’t think I could have done this with out you.’ Korra leaned into her and pressed their lips together trying to apologise without words for hoe childish she’d been.

The rest of the trip up the mountain (which Asami had informed her was actually a dormant volcano) was uneventful. The arrived at the hotel ten minutes later, checked in and left their luggage with the bellboy as they made their way back out to the front entrance where a valet already had a car waiting for them. Korra looked at here in surprise at the promptness of it. ‘What?’ Asami responded to the surprised look, ‘A Sato always tips well, and don’t kid yourself that I didn’t tip that staff at Ember Island either, because I did.’

‘I didn’t say a word’ she replied as she hoped into the passenger side of the car. Asami slid in behind the wheel and simply snicked to herself as she started the engine.

‘Can you look up the directions to City Hall, I know it’s back down in Harbour City, but I’m not sure where.’

‘Sure thing.’ Korra pulled out her phone and looked up the directions. Half an hour later they were standing at an uncomfortably high counter (that Korra suspected would be at the right height for any one of Fire Nation blood) filling out individual forms for each of the twelve Citizen Identification Number they wanted the address for whiles simultaneously hoping it would take too long for their number to be called and that they wouldn’t be called just yet because they still have three forms to complete. _Stupid bureaucratic red tape, surely they could just make a few taps on the keyboard and print out the relevant addresses._ After completing the forms and waiting a further fifteen minutes their number was finally called and they made their way to the counter. The man there looked unimpressed at the stack of forms and constantly looked up at the clock on the wall as he typed the information into the system. After a few minutes he counted the number of forms and double-checked it with the information on the screen before turning to them.

‘That will be 120 yuans…’

‘What? ten yuans a name? seriously.’ Korra exclaimed.

The man turned his attention to Korra before smugly replying, ‘120 yuans for each number, making it 1,440 yuans in total.’ Korra’s jaw dropped, but Asami just handed over her credit card and flashed the man one of dazzling smiles, ‘That’s on savings thank you.’ The man only faltered for a second before processing the payment, clearly not expecting them to want to proceed when they found out how much twelve numbers were going to cost. He handed back the card along with a print out of the addresses they were after. Asami smiled at the man again, thanked him then flipped her hair as she turned to leave, leaving the man (which Korra was pleased to see) which a clearly stunned expression on his face.

Once back in the car, Asami extracted a highlighter from her purse and marked the addresses of the five Kiyomis who lived in the capital, then checked the time.

‘Okay, there are three who live down here in Harbour City and two who live up in Caldera but we only have time to visit one before we should turn in for the night, any ideas on where we should start?’

‘Well, where’s the closest address to where we are now?’ Asami entered the addresses into her phone and pointed to a place on the map.

‘This place is only three blocks from where we are now, we could leave the car here and walk.’

Korra smiled back at her, ‘Sounds like a plan.’

They slowly strolled along the street hand in hand, and Korra sensed that Asami was nervous; she looked up at her and squeezed her hand reassuringly. ‘Don’t stress, you have nothing to worry about, just be your charming self.’

‘Thanks’ Asami smiled down at her as they stopped at the gate of a townhouse.

‘Is this the place?’ Asami just nodded, ‘Do you want me to come with you or wait out here.’ She didn’t want to crowed Asami if needed to do this on her own.

‘Can you just wait here and I’ll call you over if it’s her.’

‘Of course. Do you need a kiss for luck?’ she asked coyly.

‘Most definitely.’ Asami replied as she leaned don for the kiss.

Korra watched as Asami walked down the path and up the front steps to the front door and knocked, she decided to give her a little privacy so she walked back to the street where she would still see what was going on, but wouldn’t be able to hear. They waited a minute or two before an elderly lady, who looked about 80 opened the door. Asami and the woman had a short exchange, and then the woman closed the door and made her way back to Korra.

‘How’d it go? Did the guy at city hall give us the wrong address?’

‘No he didn’t, that woman’s name is Kiyomi and she did attended the college at the same time as my mother, only she was there as a mature aged student and most defiantly not my mother’s lover.’

‘I see. That’s one down, four to go.’

‘Don’t you mean eleven?’

‘Well, yeah, but there are only four more in the capital.’

‘Touché.’

‘So what now?’

‘Back to the hotel, dinner, sleep and then tomorrow we start our search again, starting with those in Caldera City.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’

\---

The two of them returned to the Hotel where the valet was waiting for the as well and an older gentleman who Korra assumed to be the concierge when Asami embraced him in a tight hug.

‘Korra I’d like you to meet Su Ten. Su Ten, this is my girlfriend Korra.’

‘Any friend of Asami’s is a friend of mine.’ And he bowed to Korra in an official Fire Nation pose, which she repeated to him, ‘Now ladies, I’ve taken it upon myself to make a reservation for you in the hotel’s restaurant for 7pm, I hope you don’t mind.’

‘Not at all Su, and thank you.’ Asami squeezed his shoulder as thanks and they then made their way up to their room to change for dinner.

\---

The next morning Korra woke up to a very excited Asami bouncing on the bed. ‘Wake up you sleepy head.’ Korra wasn’t usually the type to hate mornings but since she’d been sleeping through the night she’d come to appreciate how much she enjoyed sleep ins. She groaned in playfully protest and rolled over away from the hyped up, ready for the day ahead, Asami, only to then be assaulted with tickles, ‘Come on get out of bed.’

‘Ugh, fine.’ she conceded as she rolled back to face Asami, ‘What’s the plan for today?’

‘Well, I thought we could take our time with this whole thing and include some sight seeing along the way, so, if we visit the two addresses in Caldera today we can also visit the other two tomorrow. Besides one of the addresses is literally directly across the street from the Royal Palace and I’m really curious as to who would be important enough to live there.’

‘Okay, so, shower, food then Royal Palace slash important Fire Nation Noble who is potentially your mother’s ex girlfriend.’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay.’

\---

Korra could see that Asami was a strange mixture of excited and nervous, she kept bouncing and smoothing the non existent wrinkles out of her clothes with her hands, as they stood at the front gate of a large compound opposite the palace.

‘Do you want me to press the intercom button for you?’ Korra offered.

‘No, I can do it. How does my hair look?’ Asami asked, tucking a stray strand behind her ear.

‘Perfect, now go.’ She gave her a little push towards the intercom screen.

Asami pressed a finger to the red button and they both waited with bated breath as the buzzer sounded. It didn’t take long before an elderly woman about the same age as the one from yesterday came into view on the screen. The woman had jet black hair that was piled on top of her head in two buns while a large fringe all but obscured her sad eyes. Asami deflated a little next to her, but smiled up at the camera anyway.

‘Hello who’s there?’ Came a sad old voice, then followed by a short gasp, ‘Yasuko?’ the woman asked in disbelief. Asami stood frozen for a second and Korra understood that this was clearly the right house, even if the woman might not be who they were looking for, ‘No. I’m so sorry dear, I know you can’t be her, but you look just like her. It’s Asami? Isn’t it?’ she asked in a knowing said tone.

Asami vigorously nodded and Korra saw tears form in her eyes, ‘Yes, it is.’ She admitted as she looked up at the camera.

‘I’m Mai, it’s a pleasure to meet you after all these years, what can I do for you?’

Asami took a large gulp and composed herself, ‘I’m looking for Kiyomi.’ She told the woman.

Mai looked quite confused by the statement and seemed to take awhile to formulate a response, ‘I’m sorry dear but my daughter is dead. I think you and your friend there should come in so we can have a little chat.’

Korra could only begin to imagine what Asami was thinking and feeling, for her own heart was pounding in her chest with sympathy for the woman next to her who’d already lost so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, so so so so so so sorry. Don't hate me. 
> 
> You should have guessed by all the fluff and smut that I was planning something BIG and next chapter is only going to make things worse.


	21. A Story of Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai fills in the gaps of Yasuko's relationship with Kiyomi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Procrastination really is a wonderful motivation to write. 
> 
> Sorry in advance for the feels in this one.

The words were still sinking in, _My daughter is dead,_ she’d come all this way to find some way to reconnect with her dead mother, to maybe find a parental figure that didn’t treat her like shit, only to find out it was all for naught. She felt Korra lace their fingers together as she gently tugged them towards to opening gate.

Korra smiled back at her, ‘Come on.’ Asami could see the compassion behind her eyes and registered that she should be moving, but her brain couldn’t quite figure out how to send those signals to her feet. _My daughter is dead._ She felt Korra slip an arm around her waist as she guided her, forcing her to move towards the entrance of the main building. She knew under other circumstances that she would be marvelling at the architecture of the place that was clearly hundreds of years old and admiring the sculpted lawns but the whole thing was just a blur accompanied by a soundtrack of, _my daughter is dead._

Mai was waiting for them at the doorway, her sad amber eyes were full of sympathy and if she had to guess she’d say that those eyes hadn’t held happiness and many years. The old woman held the door open for them, ‘Come in, I’ve asked the butler to ready some tea, this way.’ She ushered them to a parlour off to the right of the main atrium. The room was cosy, all red and black and gold; it felt like some place that she would enjoy being, if she didn’t have a pit of cold in her stomach. The three women sat down in separate chairs, though Korra was still close enough that she was able to reach over and grip her hand if needed and Mai sat on the other side of her with a small side table between them. ‘So?’ Mai started looking between Korra and herself.

‘Oh, sorry, how rude of me. Mai, this is Korra, my girlfriend.’

‘A pleasure and if I might say, that one statement answers a few of my own questions, but let’s start this with why were you looking for my Kiyomi?’ her eye’s sparkled a little when she mentioned her daughters name.

‘I have to admit that up until the other week I didn’t even know that she existed. It was only made aware of her when I came into possession of my mother’s journal where my mother speaks of her.’ Her voice trembled with shame, _There’s **so** mush I didn’t know, _ ‘I was hoping that she would be able to help me get to know who my mother was. Hiroshi never speaks of my mother and it wasn’t until, again, reading my mother’s journal that I came to realise that it _wasn’t_ because of his grieving like I’d grown up believing but because of his disgust at her sexuality.’ The anger inside her flared up at how small a man Hiroshi really was but she pressed those feelings down, now was not the time.

‘I see. Well I guess I can help you a little, possibly fill in a few gaps. Kiyomi and I were always close and your mother was a welcome guest here, she was like a second daughter to me. Are there any specific questions you have or would you like me to just tell you their story.’ Asami assumed by Mai’s eagerness to talk, that whatever happened to Kiyomi happened a while ago and that Mai had done her grieving and was perhaps even grateful to have the opportunity to talk about her. Before she could respond the butler entered the room and sat the tea tray on the table next to her and poured the three women their tea before turning to leave.

Grateful to have something to keep her hands occupied, she took a sip of her tea, before replying, ‘There’s nothing specific that I had in mind, but I would like to hear what you have to share, honestly anything is better than the few fragments I currently have.’

‘So, I guess I’ll be starting at the beginning.’ Mai took a sit of her tea before continuing. ‘Kiyomi and Yasuko first met when your grandparents moved here from the Earth Kingdom, the girls were about twelve at the time. That first day when Kiyomi came home from school and told me about the new girl in her class, I knew that she was absolutely infatuated with Yasuko and I think it would be fair to say that Kiyomi was more than a little in love, even if she didn’t realise it at the time. Over the next few years the pair became inseparable; your mother spent more time here than at her own place, during school holidays she practically lived here. As the girls grew up each of them had their own fledgling relationships with people but it wasn’t until their first year of college that they became an item. It wasn't long after your grandparents passed away that the girls admitted to each other their feelings, but it didn’t last long, it just wasn’t the right time for them, they were too young, their romance fizzled out but they remained fierce friends. Kiyomi took it hard, I don’t think she ever loved anyone with quite the same passion that she loved your mother. It was their final year of college when Yasuko met and fell in love with your father-’

‘Hiroshi!’ Asami cut in, ‘That man hasn’t been my father for quite some time.’ She knew her outburst was unnecessary but it needed to be said.

‘Okay, Hiroshi then. They made quite the couple, he was a handsome, smart young man and your mother loved him very much. They were married just after graduation and while my Kiyomi was heartbroken that her girl got away, she was happy that her best friend was happy. Yasuko and Hiroshi moved into the Sato family home in Republic City while Kiyomi stayed here, she missed her friend greatly and poured all her emotions into her art.’ Mai took a pause and sipped some more of her tea. ‘The girls were in constant communication though, sending letters to each other and the occasional phone call when there was big news, like when Yasuko found out she was pregnant with you,’ Mai let out a slight laugh, ‘apparently the first thing she did after leaving the doctor’s appointment was find a pay phone to call and tell her best friend the good news, even before calling her husband. But then everything changed, Kiyomi became so worried about your mother, more and more letters arrived stained with tears and Kiyomi didn’t know how to help.’

‘I know this part, mum wrote about it, Hiroshi is a homophobic arse and he let his insecurities get in the way. My mother loved him and he just turned his back on her when she told him about her relationship with Kiyomi.’ She sighed trying to keep her throat from choking up.

‘Yes, that’s about it. Kiyomi tried to convince Yasuko to leave him but she was convinced that he would change.’ Mai shook her head and took a deep breath before letting it go. ‘Dear I know this must be a hard topic for you, but what do you remember of the night of the accident, not what people have told you but what you actually remember?’ Mai looked sad with concern and Asami tried to still her racing heart as flashes of the crash raced through her mind’s eye.

‘Not much.’ Her voice shuddered but she pressed on, she could do this. She felt a tightness on her leg and she looked down to where Korra’s hand was squeezing her knee giving her silent encouragement. ‘I remember mum carrying me to the car and buckling me into the back seat, we were driving, I didn’t know where to, then there were bright lights and a loud screech of breaks, the next thing I know I’m wrapt in a blanket with an oxygen mask on my face while the paramedics talked with Hiroshi.’

‘And what have you found out since that night?’ Mai pressed.

‘That a drunk driver in a truck swerved into the oncoming lane causing a head on collision killing my mother instantly. I confronted Hiroshi the other week asking him about Kiyomi, he told me that he and my mother had had a fight about her that night and that mum left with me to go to a hotel for the night, but there’s more to the story isn’t there? I could tell that he was keeping things from me.’ She remembered the way he kept falling short on finishing his sentences and acting cagey.

‘Oh dear child, while your parents probably did have a fight that night I doubt it was solely because of my daughter and even then, that wasn’t the reason Yasuko took you and left, you see, your mother had been planning to leave Hiroshi for a few weeks. I even had rooms here readied for you both so you would have somewhere to stay.’

She looked at Mai in surprise, _mum left him, we were so close to a happy life, damn that drunk driver._ She hastily rubbed her eyes, not wanting the tears to fall. ‘What happened, what changed? The last entry in her journal said that they were getting along better, that he was improving, what made her decide to leave him?’ Mai had to know, if she’d made room for them to stay here, she had to know what was going on.

Mai gave her a pitying look, the same look many people had given her her whole life, but coming from Mai, it made her think that the worst was yet to come. ‘I never expected to have to tell you any of this, I never realised that you never knew.’

‘N-never knew what?’ she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this, _Had Hiroshi done something? Did he become violent? What could be she possibly be about to say?_ Her mind swam with doubt, she wasn’t sure she could handle this.

‘Your mother was pregnant Asami.’ Mai paused to give her words time to sink in. The crowd of thoughts in Asami’s head vanished and she was left feeling numb, she couldn’t even feel where Korra’s hand was rubbing her back, _Pregnant? I was going to have a sibling!_ ‘Yasuko couldn’t stand the idea of raising another child in a loveless marriage. She gave up thinking Hiroshi could change his ways and she realised that her and her children would be better off far away from him.’ _We could have been a family, mum, me, a little brother or sister and even Kiyomi. Oh spirits, why does the universe hate me so?_ The tears fell freely and Mai pulled a monogramed handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to her. She gently dabbed her eyes before lightly blowing her nose. She went to hand it back but Mai just shook her head, ‘Keep it.’

It took another few minutes to compose herself before she could ask the only question left unanswered. ‘Mai, what happened to Kiyomi?’

‘She was in the car that night too, she didn’t survive. Hiroshi paid everyone he could to keep that fact quiet, he didn’t want to world to know that his pregnant wife was leaving him for another woman. I’m so sorry you had to find all this out from me, life has been so cruel to you dear child.’

 _Well, at least the bastard didn’t lie to me when he said he hadn’t seen her since the accident,_ she had to suppress a laugh at the thought. ‘Thank you for telling me and I’m sorry for your loss.’

‘Oh dear, life has taken a great deal of things from me; my daughter, my husband and my parents are just to name a few, but you have been robbed of a life you never knew you could have had, my losses are dwarfed by yours and I can only hope that things get better for you and by the looks of the beautiful girl next to you, I suspect they’ve already started to.’ She looked to her left where Korra was giving her a reassuring smile, and she was suddenly grateful that she was there with her. Mai’s voice pulled her from her thoughts ‘I kept them, the letters your mother sent Kiyomi, I haven’t read them but they are yours if you want them. They might help fill some of the gaps.’

Asami gave a faint smile and nodded. ‘Thanks.’ Mai shuffled out of the room and left the two women alone. Korra had been silent this whole time, and she suspected that she didn’t know what to say, she herself didn’t know what to say but then she knew she didn’t have to say anything. Asami stood up from her chair and slipped herself onto Korra lap, resting her head on her shoulder. Korra was quick to pull her in close and rubbed her back, leaving her to her thoughts or actually lack of thoughts. Asami way trying not to dwell too much on what she could have had, there was no changing the life she had, it was just hard knowing that she’d almost had a different life.

The sound of gentle shuffling pulled her attention to the door where Mai was entering carrying a wooden box. ‘In here are the letters I spoke of as well as a few photo’s of the girls, there’s even one of your grandparents in there.’

She got up and took the box from the woman before giving her a deep bow. ‘Thank you, Mai.’

‘You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you ladies?’

She couldn’t think of anything else that she needed and was about to responded when she remembered where she was. ‘Yes actually, I’m curious, who exactly are you that you are honoured with a house directly opposite The Royal Palace?’ she felt herself smile slightly at the question, thinking that after such a heavy conversation this was surly a lighter topic.

Mai chuckled, ‘I come from a old noble Fire Nation family, it’s an inherited title. I also used to be friends with the fire princess. I resented this lifestyle in my youth but I grew to appreciate the perks of it once I had a family. This place is empty here with just me now, but I have too many fond memories to just leave it behind, besides, I’ve no one to leave it to.’ She paused before adding, ‘I don’t suppose you would want the place after I’m gone?’ Asami just gaped at the woman. ‘Just think about it, I don’t plan on going anywhere just yet, besides I know Kiyomi saw you as a daughter, so this place would have gone to you if it weren’t for the accident and I really don’t want to see it go to my ungrateful younger brother.’

She was still stunned by the offer and just replied with the first thing that came to mind. ‘Yeah, I’ll think about it.’

‘Also, feel free to visit anytime, it’s nice to see young faces and I have so many stories about the girls I can share with you.’

‘Of course.’

Mai handed her a card that she seemed to have produced from inside her billowing sleeve. ‘Here’s my card, call any time, or even send me an email.’

‘I will. Thank you again.’

‘Any time.’

Mai escorted them back to the front door where she gave both women a tight hug before closing the door.

The afternoon sun was shining off the scattered clouds as they drove back to their hotel in silence. Mai had given her so much to think about she just didn’t know how to begin to process it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... did anyone see that coming?  
> I think I'll let up on Asami for a bit now, she really has had a rough few weeks. 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think, what you liked, didn't like, any questions, or even ideas about what you would like to see. 
> 
> And thank you all again for reading and leaving comments, It really does make my day reading your comments and it also motivates me to write more.


	22. Gym, Bath, Phone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra hears some hard truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to write more for this chapter but this is all that I got out, besides I think that the next chapter will be more interesting.

 

‘Good morning, Dr Tenzin’s office, this is Pema.’

‘Hey Pema.’

‘Oh Korra sweety, it’s good to hear your voice, I haven’t seen you in a while.’

‘That’s actually why I’m calling, I need to make an appointment, I forgot to make one when I left last time.’

‘Of course, when’s good for you?’

‘As soon as possible.’

‘Well the earliest I have is Tuesday next week at 3pm.’

‘I was hoping for something a bit sooner.’

‘Look, I’ll bump you up the waiting list and if there is a cancelation it’s yours, but in the mean time, I’ll make the appointment for Tuesday?’

‘Thanks Pema, you’re the best.’

‘Only because it’s you dear. Bye Korra.’

‘See ya, Peema.’

\---

The rain pattered down on Asami’s large windows and Korra curled herself deeper into the couch with her coffee. They’d been back from the Fire Nation for three days and during that time, everything had been fine, and it was bugging Korra. Asami hadn’t cried once since leaving Mai’s house and there was no way Asami could just be okay with the news that had been dropped on her, she knew that if it was her she would be, _mad? Torn apart? Full of despair?_ but Asami appeared to be fine. Right now it was four-thirty in the morning and Korra had woken from a bad dream, Asami had been on the other side of the bed and she didn’t want to wake her up, so she’d made her way downstairs to where she was now, watching the rain.

Part of her wanted to be out there jumping in puddles, the other part of her wanted to be upstairs doing unmentionable things to her girlfriend because storms had always been an aphrodisiac for her but there was a nagging in her gut that Asami wasn’t okay and that sex was the last thing she needed. She looked out over the waking city as the rising sun slowly started to poke through gaps in the clouds. Somehow the rain managed to look prettier when falling on buildings than it did falling on the vast desolate tundra, maybe it had something to do with the way the lights in the buildings make the rain almost twinkle but the thought of home caused a twinge of guilt in her gut, _I can’t remember the last time I gave mum and dad a hug._

A soft shuffling brought Korra out of her daze and she turned to see a sleepy eyed Asami with bed hair coming down the stairs.

‘Morning.’ She called over.

‘Coffee!’

Korra laughed at her, ‘Sit down I’ll make it for you.’ She jogged over to the stairs and gave Asami a quick kiss before heading to the kitchen to make her a cup of coffee.

‘mmmm, thank you.’ Asami was quick to curl herself into what was previously Korra’s cocoon on the couch, which Korra thought was the most adorable thing in the world when she returned with her coffee.

‘So, what are your plans for today?’

Asami was quiet for a moment before responding, ‘I’ve got some errands to run and I have to head into the office for a little while as well, they’ve hit a snag in a project and they want me to have a look at it to see if I can help them sort it out, you know, put my genius brain to good work, so I’ll be gone for most of the day.’

‘Oh?’ That wasn’t what she wanted to hear; to her a rainy day meant hot beverages, cuddles, maybe a good book but not work and errands.

‘Yeah, one of the consequences of taking leave at such short notice is that I didn’t get to give any final input into the current projects and now they’ve got problems and need help. What are you going to do?’

‘Well, I was planning on spending the day cuddled on the couch with you, but I guess I’ll hit the gym, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a real work out and I can feel my curves growing softer.’ _I might even call my parents,_ but she didn’t think Asami needed to know that last part.

‘I like your squishy curves.’ Asami was pouting but there was also a glint in her eyes that suggested that she was teasing.

‘Well, if you can use the word _squishy to_ describe my curves then I certainly am overdue for a gym session.’

\---

Three hours was all she lasted in the gym, after a year of light training and two weeks of no training she could officially say she was out of shape, at least by Marine standards. Korra would spend upwards of six hours a day constantly training when she was stuck on a ship without shore leave, now she couldn’t even last three, _So this is what being a civilian feels like._ Upon making her way back to Asami’s apartment, well their apartment, Korra was disappointed to note that Asami wasn’t back yet, _though she did say she would be gone most of the day_. The extra time did give her a chance to fully appreciate Asami’s massive bath, and truth be told her muscles would thank her tomorrow for the warm soak.

Up in the bathroom Korra found some bubble bath and ran herself a warmer than average bath. After stripping off her smelly gym clothes she cautiously stepped into the tub and let the water sooth her tired muscles. As she rested her head back against the rest she gently skimmed her fingers over the surface of the water enjoying the difference in texture between the water and the bubbles. Then she felt her body start to relax she let her mind relax with it.

_*drip*_

_…_

_*drip*_

_…_

_*drip*_

_…_

Korra startled awake in panic and splashed about in an attempt to keep her head above water as her body struggled with its flight or fight response. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep in the bath and the now cold-water surrounding her was disorienting her and melding with her panic triggered by the dripping faucet. Once she got her breathing under control she hauled herself out of the tub grabbed a towel and got herself to the bedroom as quick as she could, not caring about getting water everywhere, she just needed to be away from the cause of her current panic attack. She threw the towel onto the bed for her to sit on before she snatched her phone from the nightstand and called Tenzin’s office.

‘Good Afternoon, Dr Tenzin’s office, this is Pema.’

‘Pema?Ican’twait‘tilTuesday.’ Korra rushed.

‘Korra, is that you?’ a note of concern sounding in her voice.

‘Please Pema.’ She hated sounding so needy but she really did need immediate help.

‘Korra, I need you to breathe and then tell me what’s wrong.’ Pema soothed

She steadied her breathing as best she could before she replied. ‘Panic attack… Alone... Bad.’ She got out between staggered breaths.

‘Bad enough for me to have to call an ambulance for you?’

‘No… Just… need to talk… to Tenzin.’

‘Okay, keep it gentle there with the breathing, I was actually about to call you. This storm has a few people scared off and Tenzin’s whole afternoon has opened up, can you make it in?’

‘Can’t be out there… can’t be wet right now.’ She loved the rain but not when her body was in a cold sweat and the closeness of the moisture would just be too much of a reminder.

‘Okay Sweety, Just stay on the line, I’m sure Tenzin will be happy to have a phone session with you, his current appointment has just a few minutes to go. So you’ll have to put up with me for a little while longer.’

Korra felt her heart rate start to slow down a bit and her breathing was becoming more regular. ‘Thanks Pema.’

‘Not a problem dear, just try to relax. Are you somewhere safe?’

‘Yes, in bed.’ She pulled the sheets around her naked form and made herself a nice cocoon.

‘Okay. Tenzin’s just finished with his last patient, I have to put you on hold for a second so I can talk to Tenzin then I’ll put you through.’

‘Don’t put the hold music on, can you just put the phone down?’

‘Okay Korra, I’ll be back on the line before you know it.’ Through the phone she could hear hushed conversation before Pema picked up the receiver again. ‘Putting you through now.’

The phone went dead for a second before she heard Tenzin’s calming voice on the other end.

‘Hello Korra, Pema tells me that your in the middle of a panic attack, do you want to start with that, or so you want to work up to it?’ His voice instantly soothing her nerves.

‘Work up to it.’ She said in a small voice and she cursed herself for sounding so week.

‘Alright, how about you tell me what you’ve been up to since I last saw you.’ He prompted.

Korra had to think, she borrowed deeper into the blankets and tried to collect her thoughts. ‘The same day I saw you last I went on a date and had a flashback when a car backfired, Asami helped me through it, she’s the woman I told you that I met.’

‘And how did she handle it?’

‘She knew all the right things to do, she’s suffered from PTSD as well.’

‘It didn’t scare her off?’

‘No, we’re really close, I’ve even moved in with her. I’ve been sleeping through the night with her around and the dreams are less frequent.’

‘That’s great news Korra, though you shouldn’t be so dependant on her for helping you sleep. Have you talked to her yet about what happened?’ Tenzin never raised his voice or scolded but she could always tell when he was disappointed in her.

‘A little but I didn’t go into detail, Asami has her own problems to worry about. She lost her mother in a car crash when she was little and she found her mothers old journal and it stirred up a lot of things from her past. Long story short we went on a trip to the Fire Nation together to try and track down one of her mother’s old friends, but it only ended up causing her more grief.’

‘I’m familiar with Miss Sato’s history.’

Korra had to pause for a moment to process what Tenzin had just said. ‘I didn’t mention her last name.’

‘She was a patent of mine after the accident I put two and two together.’

‘Oh, I’m worried about her. She found out that her mother was pregnant and running from her father with away with another woman, and on top of that, that she was the only one to survive the crash. She hasn’t cried since she found out and her eyes look a little vacant, it’s like she’s ignoring it or refusing to process it or just keeping up a brave face for me but I’m worried.’ She felt herself getting worked up again and she took a couple of deep breathes.

‘Look Korra I can’t talk to you about Asami’s past but I can tell you to give her time, if she’s anything like she was as a child she processes things in her own way but she’ll get there.’ She knew he was right, Asami did seem to have her own way od doing things she just wished there was something she could be doing to help. ‘So do you want to tell me about today?’

‘I fell asleep in the bath and woke up to the sound of dripping water, I was cold and wet and naked and I panicked, I didn’t have a flash back but after having a dream last night about the escape, I was on edge.’ She admitted, ‘Now that I’ve calmed down I feel silly for over reacting.’

‘Your not silly Korra, your mind is just acting on impulse to protect itself, the mind is a complicated thing. I’ve suggested to you before that talking to people will help you and if you don’t feel like you can talk to Asami about what you’ve been through perhaps talking to your parents? When you first started seeing me you signed a form saying that I was able to share information about your progress with your mother. She calls every few months to check up on you, and while I tell her what I can about your mental state and physical wellbeing, I’m legally not able to share anything with her that’s in your military file. She’s worried about you Korra and I think that it would do you good to talk to her.’

‘I’ll think about it.’ She knew he was right, like always she just didn’t want to admit that to him.

‘Anything else you want to talk about today?’

‘Tell me it gets better’ It was a childish question but she was still feeling vulnerable and needed to be molly coddled.

‘Life?’

‘Yeah, does it get’s better?’

‘Korra what are you really asking? What do you want me to say?’

‘Something to make me feel better.’

‘I could tell you that, ‘Yes. Life gets better. The troubles get easier and the memories drift away. The bad times are all behind you and everything works out for the best. No one ever dies and… everybody lives happily eve after.’ but it’s simply not true.’

‘I wish it was.’ she could hear Tenzin give a sigh on the other end of the phone.

‘Look life will be hard work and you have to face your past to get to your future, from what I can tell you are using Asami like a Band-Aid and if she really does mean more to you then that, you need to start opening up to her.’ He too a pause before continuing, ‘Korra, answer me on question, When was the last time you remember being happy before all the incidents in your file?’

She took a moment to think, ‘Six years ago, I was at the solstice festival with dad, no one knew who I was but they all knew my dad. Everyone stopped us and shook his hand and wanted his attention however there was this one girl who seemed to be everywhere we were, she couldn’t have been any older than 18, she caught my eye and dad caught me checking her out, he pushed me towards her and said ‘go, you don’t need to hang out with an old fuddy duddy like me, go get her.’ So I went. Her and I played some games and ended up making out on the Ferris Wheel under the colours of the southern lights.’

‘And what made it a happy time for you?’

‘I was free, no stress, no pressure, no hang-ups, it was just me and the infinite possibilities of my future. Who the girl was didn’t matter but it just felt nice to have someone there beside me.’

‘And what makes now so different to then? You don’t have responsibilities, you’ve got the whole world at your fingertips, don’t let the past stop you from reaching tomorrow. Talk, cleanse, heal, move forward.’

‘Thanks Tenzin I’ll try to keep that in mind. And can you also thank Pema as well.

‘I will, and we’ll talk again next month.

‘bye.’

Korra drifted off to sleep not long after hanging up the phone while thinking about how nice it would be to see the southern lights again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, Cookies and Cuddles are all appreciated. 
> 
> Some of you might have noticed that I have started a new story (it's a SciFi one) I'm not sure If I'm going to continue it but if there is enough interest I'll keep going. go check it out.


	23. Lets see how fast this thing can go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami tries to deal with the recent revelations about her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long, life's a bitch and so is writter's block, but here's almost 8K worth of story to make up for it. 
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> Also for something different there are a couple of perspective changes in this chapter, they are marked with 2 horizontal lines, so watch out for them.

 The morning sun hit Asami squarely in the face, _Fuck, at least when I was sleeping at the office I didn’t have to worry about the evil sun, s_ he rolled over and rubbed her eyes before stretching out her stiff muscles. This was the third morning in a row that she’d woken up in an empty bed and she was feeling a little guilty that she knew Korra was having issues and she wasn’t helping. The other day when she’d arrived home in the early afternoon Korra had been curled up in a cocoon on the bed, fast asleep and she knew it was a sign that something had happened but she didn’t have the strength to help Korra as well as sort out all her mixed up feelings to do with the recent revelations about her family. In fact she’d been avoiding Korra, even though the shame of not being about to face her girlfriend was more crippling than the guilt of not being able to help, she just didn’t know what to do for her.

She’d spent the last two days at the office helping them with bits and pieces of their projects but mostly she locked herself away and drew pictures of what she imagined her ‘could have been’ family would have looked like; her mum, Kiyomi, herself and a little sister or maybe a brother. She’d contemplated spending her nights at the office like she use to but she knew that wasn’t fair on Korra, even if she was avoiding her it wasn’t Korra’s fault and she still needed to see her warm smile because it honestly was the only thing that was good in her life at the moment. Now that it was Saturday she couldn’t use the office as an excuse to get out of the apartment, instead she ferreted around her wardrobe for her black and red racing leathers and threw them in a backpack with her workshop coveralls, donned a simple pair of black skinny jeans fastened with her belt and half cog buckle, a while tank top and her black steel toed work books then slipped her sun glasses onto the top of her head before making her way down stairs.

To her surprise Korra wasn’t drinking coffee on the couch this morning like she had been he past few mornings or doing her morning work out, instead she was in the kitchen, cooking something that looked a lot like burnt scrambled eggs. ‘Ugh Korra Sweety, what are you doing?’

Korra looked up at her with a huge grin on her face and the sight of it broke her heart, especially when it slipped from Korra’s face when she noticed the backpack over her shoulder and the work boots.

‘I figured since it’s Saturday and you wouldn’t have to work that I’d make you breakfast. I know I’m no chef and I’m sure it doesn’t even compare to what you could make yourself but I tried to make you an omelette.’

 _Oh, an omelette, that’s what it’s supposed to be._ Asami gut was twisting itself in knots, she really wanted to stay and try to appreciate what Korra had tried to do for her but she just didn’t know how to be around people when she felt so lost, She’d never really been around people to learn how to act when she was feeling insecure about so many things and she wasn’t sure how to start now.

‘Ah, Korra thanks for the effort but I really need to get going, I promised the guys at the track that I would help them out with a retrofit project they are working on. They found an old ’85 SX that needs a lot of love.’ It wasn’t a complete lie, she did have an old SX stashed away in her bay at the track that she had been meaning to work on and she was sure that some of the other mechanics would be there working on their own personal projects. She just really hoped that getting in and putting her hands to work would stop her from mulling on the bad and hopefully clear her head a bit. She also planned to squeeze in a few laps on one of the prototypes.

‘That’s okay, I’m sure that this tastes like shit any way. You have fun. Let me know when you are heading home and I’ll order pizza for dinner.’

‘Thanks Kor.’ She stepped forward and gave her a hug then placed a kiss on her forehead before stepping out the door feeling like the worst person in the world.

 

* * *

* * *

 

The banging from the front door was unbearable. Bolin just wanted a nice Saturday sleep in after being up at 6am every day that week for acting classes. He sleepily made his way to the front door wondering who it could be, since Opal was on a long haul flight to the SWT and Korra wouldn’t knock and since they were the only two people in all of Republic city that he knew he was drawing a blank as to who it could be hammering away on his door. Bolin unbolted the door before opening it, suddenly wishing that he were a bit more awake for what he was seeing.

‘SURPRISE!’ The couple in front of him greeted before their faced morphed into shock, which is how he imagined his own face, looked.

‘Ah, Bolin, Is there something we need to know?’

Bolin was too busy trying to process that Korra’s parents were standing at the front door to register that someone had asked a question.

‘Huh?’

‘Is there a reason you are answering our daughter’s front door wearing only your boxers? She hasn’t turned straight has she?’

‘No, Chief Tonraq Sir, Korra is most definitely isn’t straight - or bi for that matter.’

‘Then do you care to explain yourself?’

‘Ah yeah. You see, I kinda quit my job with the UF and moved here and your super amazing daughter said I could stay here since she moved in with her girlfriend, did I mention that Korra is the greatest person alive, she really saved my bacon considering I didn’t have anywhere to stay and this way I can be close to my girlfriend when she’s in town, she a pilot, but please don’t tell her that I said that Korra is the greatest person alive, I don’t think she’d handle that too well. So now I live here and I’m taking acting classes. And you don’t want to know about me, you want to know about Korra.’

‘If you don’t mind dear, as lovely as it would be to catch up with you we didn’t fly all this way just to talk to you.’ Senna smiled as she ruffled his hair, just like she did when he was a kid. ‘Can you tell us where to find her?’

‘Ugh, yeah, just a sec, she gave me an address for forwarding her mail to, I’ll just grab it for you.’ Bolin ducked back inside the apartment and roughly threw a singlet on while searching for that piece of paper that Korra had written the address on. He eventually found it (in the cutlery draw of all places) and returned to the two southerners still waiting at the front door. ‘Here you go.’

‘Thank you Bolin.’ Tonraq replied while bowing his head.

‘Anytime.’

The pair turned to leave but not before Senna gave one final remark, ‘Oh and Bolin, Your top’s on inside out’

* * *

* * *

Just as expected, two of the bays at the track were open when Asami arrived and she could see mechanics working on their own projects. She walked over to the security keypad to deactivate the alarm and unlock her own bay. Nestled in the back was her own bike all black and red, as well as the SX that she was going to give a complete makeover. Asami liked having her own bay, it meant that she had a place of her own to work in privacy it also meant that she could store new prototypes here without fear of them falling into the wrong hands. Some of the senior mechanics also had their own bays but most worked in the large hanger however it got too rambunctious in there for her liking.

Asami slipped her coveralls on and walked the faded blue and white SX over to the centre of the room, then grabbed her tools from the cabinet before setting to work disassembling the bike. She tried to push all her nagging thoughts out of her head as she sorted the parts into three piles (‘not needed’, ‘keeping and needs fixing’ and ‘keeping and works fine’) but she kept wondering what it would be like to do this with a sibling. _If I had a brother would he even like things like this or would he have been more like mum? If I had a sister would she help me or would she have been too competitive and wanted to work on her own project?_ She tried to push the thoughts away but they kept clouding at the back of her mind. Slowly seeping through. _Focus Asami, focus._

A few hours later when the bike was fully stripped Asami began to make a list of all the things she knew to be wrong with this model and also things that she wanted to add or improve. _It will need a cooling system, digital fuel injection and a sturdier frame, maybe I can splurge and fabricate one out of titanium. A new frame would allow me to make room for a better-positioned seat. I also need to get parts to put together a completely new electronics system with an auxiliary battery to supply power to USB outlets._

The more she worked and made notes the more Asami began to wonder how different her life could have been. _Would I have still ended up working for Hiroshi, I’d never work for Cabbage Corp but maybe Varrik Global? Though I have heard that he is near impossible to work with. I would still be he heir but then he could have disowned me? If I had a brother would he have even given me a second look? He did still love me and treated me right, but that was before I came out to him._

‘Arrrgh, this isn’t helping.’ She seethed and resisted the urge to crumple into a mess on the floor as her outburst had caught the attention of the other people there. She grabbed a rag and started rubbing the grease off her hands before she retrieved her leathers from her bag and made her way to the change rooms. _Working might not help in taking my mind off of things but I know what will._

* * *

* * *

 

The sounds of the traffic bellow interrupted Korra’s meditation. Between worrying about Asami and contemplating what Tenzin had said about telling Asami about the source of her PTSD, she just needed to clear her head. She groaned when she realised that the apartment wasn’t the most tranquil place to meditate and that she should just give up. As she stood her aching muscles from her exercise the day before screamed at her, she was however a firm believer in pushing through the pain so she came to the conclusion that a bike ride with the wind nipping at her as she sped along the ocean track, was the best course of action, the ocean side pool at the beach was also a contributing factor in her decision making.

Korra was also thankful that Asami had made her buy a bathing suit when they were on Ember Island and even though she didn’t remove her sensible one piece with her teeth like promised, that woman hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off of her exposed muscles the entire time she wore it. Korra threw her swimming things into her backpack, filled up her water bottle and made to leave the apartment. _Fuck, my bike is still in the lock up at my old place, I’ll have to catch the train out there before I head off._

As she trudged down the stairs her thoughts drifted back to Asami. _There has to be a way for me to get her to open up. I know Tenzin said that she has her own way of dealing with things but I wish she felt like she could trust me with what’s going on in that gorgeous brain of hers._ Korra was so lost in her own thoughts and not concentrating on looking where she was going that by the time she made it half way down the block she’d already waled into a lamp post or two and was now heading straight into an oncoming couple.

‘I think you should pay more attention to where you are going.’ The larger figure of the couple warned. She knew that voice and she looked up to see her father looking down at her with his mock serious face on.

‘Leave her alone Honey, she obviously has something on her mind.’ She turned to the person standing next to her father and gave her mother what was probably the largest smile of her life.’

‘Mum, Dad, it’s so good to see you.’ She threw her arms around them and pulled them both in for a tight hug before pulling back, ‘What are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?’ not that she wasn’t grateful for them being here, it was just a surprise.

‘Your father had a meeting with President Riko yesterday, so we thought we would make a weekend out of it and visit our favourite daughter.’

Korra rolled her eyes at her mother ‘I’m your only daughter.’ It was an old joke but she always played along. ‘And you didn’t answer my question, how did you know where to find me.’

Her father laughed, ‘Bolin is still quite the chatterbox, although he was more shocked then you were when we showed up the front door.’ Tonraq continued to laugh at the thought, while Senna gave him a scowl and a light thump on the arm.

‘Cut the poor boy some slack, we’d obviously woken him up considering he was only in his underwear.’

‘Well considering the shock he gave me the other week he probably deserved it.’ Korra commented, Senna and Tonraq both gave her matching questioning looks, to which she quickly replied, ‘You don’t want to know.’ She didn’t feel like reliving that particular memory.

‘Bolin mentioned that you’ve moved in with a girlfriend, how come this is the first we’ve heard of this girlfriend? How serious is it? And when do we get to meet her?’ Her father had always been protective of her, even though he knew she was capable of taking care of herself and it warmed her heart to know that he did care.

‘How about one question at a time Dad?’

‘Also,’ her mother butted in, ‘how about we continue this conversation inside over a cup of tea instead of out here on the street?’

 ---

A few minutes later Korra was showing them in through the front door to the apartment. ‘Well this is where I’ve been living the past few weeks.’ Senna’s eyes went wide with surprise while Tonraq let out a low whistle.

‘Korra I know you aren’t a shallow person and you would never date anyone for their money so please don’t take it the wrong way when I say, you’ve really hit the jackpot with this one.’ She just laughed in response to her farther’s remark. Both her parents were clearly as impressed with the place as she had been when she first took in the beauty of the place.

Senna had already made her way to the kitchen as was opening cupboards in what Korra assumed was an attempt to find supples to make tea, while Tonraq started to poke around the living room checking out Asami’s record collection and books.

‘You two try not to break anything while I go change out of my riding clothes, she sent her father a pointed look and he gingerly set the Stirling engine back down on the shelf. She quickly ran upstairs and shed her skin tight outfit in exchange for a pair of loose sweats and her SWT tank and by the time she made it back down stairs her mother had a pot of tea on the table and her father was just staring out the window at the view.

‘So,’ She cautiously began, ‘Bolin didn’t mention who it was that I’m dating?’ she looked between her parents who gently shook their heads in response.

‘We did hear about his girlfriend the pilot and acting school but he was short on details about you.’ Her mother offered.

‘Why who is it that you’re seeing?’ Tonraq asked as he made his way over to the table where Korra and Senna were sitting.

Korra took a sip of tea to calm her nerves. Yes, she was nervous, it wasn’t every day that you told your parents that you were dating the heiress to the largest fortune in the world. She was actually surprised that there hadn’t been any paparazzi photos of the two of them in circulation in the gossip rags but then they also didn’t go or do anything to draw attention to themselves. She set her cup down on the table and looked at her mum and dad who were looking at her expectantly.

‘Mum, Dad, I’m dating Asami Sato, future CEO of Future Industries.’

Both their jaws dropped comically open, and she knew she was in for a long afternoon full of questions. 

* * *

* * *

The comforting feeling of the ground vibrated through her knee puck as Asami pushed the bike to its limits rounding the corner. Ever since she was 16 and she’d first gotten her knee down, she’d been using it as a gauge to test how much further she could push herself and the bike she was riding. Today the bike was the new prototype for Future Industries street legal race bike. She’d just finished a few test laps at a conservative speed, now she’d opened up the throttle and was leaving the world behind, all that existed was her, the road and the bike between her legs. Asami angled into the next turn, extended her knee out and leaned hard skirting around the tight bend before straitening out again and angling back the other way. A small crowed of workers had gathered to watch her test the bike, including one mechanic taking lap times for her but the people didn’t phase her, they could watch and she knew she wouldn’t embarrass herself or crash, this track was her home and it was the most comfortable place in the world to her.

By the end of her tenth lap Asami was ready to call it a day. The concentration at high speed was fatiguing her faster then usual and she knew that it had something to do with her own troubles. She locked the bike away back in the secure prototype storage room then made her way to the change rooms for a shower. After putting her jeans and top back on Asami sent Korra a text informing her that she was heading back and that she would pick up pizza on the way. Then she made her way to her car so she could head home. Asami stilled for a moment at the thought, _Home? I haven’t had one of those since mum. Not the mansion, not school, not even the apartment, but now, with Korra, the woman I love so dearly, yeah, I have a home._ The thought both thrilled and scared her. She didn’t know when exactly Korra had come to mean so much to her and she didn’t want to fuck up something so precious by being her usual closed off self, she needed to be bold and she needed to make a change.

\---

Korra was asleep on the couch when she walked through the door carrying the pizzas. She looked cute lying there with her mouth half open and the toy fire ferret cradled in her arms. Asami put the pizza on the table and walked over to her slumbering girlfriend. She lent down and placed a gentle kiss to Korra’s forehead and when she didn’t stir she retrieved the treasured childhood toy from her arms placing it back on the shelf before gently climbing onto Korra’s lap, stretching herself out and tucking her face into Korra’s shoulder. For the first time in days the weight of everything felt like it was crushing her, a small strangled sob escaped her throat and try as might to stop it from happening the tears came without her permission and they weren’t stopping. Asami just buried her face further into Korra’s shirt and let the tears flow.

Korra must have woken up at some point because her arms were holding her close and she was rubbing circles into her back.

‘Asami, it’s oaky. Everything’s going to work out, I promise.’

She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself but it just came out as a strangled sob. While Korra continued to try and sooth her Asami tried to summon the words she needed to say. This wasn’t how she planed to doing this, on the drive over she’d run through a dozen scenarios of how to have this conversation but none of them involved her crying her eyes out before she even started.

Asami gulped down another sob, and forced out the words that would change everything, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ She pleaded into Korra’s shirt. She wasn’t sure that Korra had heard her as the woman just continued her soothing motions but then she felt Korra’s hand on her chin gently guiding her face to look up at her.

‘It’s okay Asami, I’m right here.’ Her voice was reassuring but it made the words made her heart clench. ‘Whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here.’

A fresh wave of tears made trails down her face but no sobbing this time, just an ache in her chest. She looked up at her girlfriend’s compassionate and honest face and she hated herself for the words she was about to say. ‘No Korra, you don’t understand.’ Korra looked perplexed for a moment before she explained, ‘I can’t do this.’ She indicated with a hand between herself and the woman who had been nothing but supportive and understanding over the past couple of weeks. Korra’s hurt face said it all, that she didn’t understand, that this wasn’t what she wanted, that this was the last thing in the world she expected to hear. She pushed herself up off of Korra’s lap and they positioned themselves so that they were looking at each other.

‘Are you?’ Korra paused, uncertainty crossing her features, ‘breaking up with me?’

‘Yes – and no.’ Korra’s face was down turned and she reached out to comfort her but let her arm drop at the last moment. ‘I need some time. This whole thing with my mum has me in a bad place and I don’t know how to let you in.’

Korra looked up at her with eyes brimming with tears. ‘You try, that’s how, every day you try, you might not succeed every day but you try.’ Her voice sounded horse and strangled and a little pleading but Asami stood by her belief that this was the right thing to do.

‘I wish it was as easy as that, I really do, I love you so much and the last thing I want is to lose you but I can’t bring you down this jackalope hole with me. I’ve spent my whole life dealing with my problems by myself, I’ve never had anyone to trust or rely on and I don’t know how to and it’s not fair to you. I know you want to help and I really appreciate that but it’s just going to hurt you that I can’t talk to you.’ Korra looked like she was going to protest so Asami held her hand up to signal that she still had more to say. ‘Korra I might’ve been able to continue this if I was the only one dealing with personal problems but I’m not. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the empty bed in the morning or the nightmares you’ve been having and I’m not in a position to be able to deal with that right now. I wish I could, It pains me to see you in turmoil, I want to reach out and hold you tight and protect you from whatever is haunting you but my own ghosts are consuming me and I need to deal with them before I can be the girlfriend you deserve, which means I need some time and space to sort myself out.’

Korra was silent for a long time. Once or twice she made a motion or a gesture that indicated she was going to say something but nothing came out. A loud sigh escaped her before Korra finally managed to respond. ‘Asami, I love you and I don’t want to lose you. Is there any way I can get you to change your mind?’

She shook her head in response then reached over to take Korra’s hands in hers. ‘I’m not saying this is forever and once I’ve sorted myself out I’ll be ready for _us_ but I can’t ask you to wait for me. I need you to go and live your life and if that means that you find some other woman to give your heart to, I’ll have to live with knowing that I lost the best thing that ever happened to me but I promise that regardless of what happens I will always love you.’ She squeezed Korra’s hands hoping that she believed her, hoping that she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life. Korra looked from their joined hands to her with a face streaked in tears. Asami moved her hand to wipe the tears away with one hand while she pulled Korra closer with the other.

‘Come here.’ She held the other woman close; her soft sobs the only noise in the room. After awhile She felt Korra still and then she looked down the see her puffy blue eyes full of sadness, her lips pulled into a soft pout and she just wanted to lean down and kiss it all better and tell her that she didn’t mean any of it, that it was all a really bad joke but she couldn’t she knew this was the best thing for both of them.

Korra finally spoke again. ‘I could never find someone to love as much as you.’ She pushed herself up and gave Asami a chaste kiss on the lips. ‘You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You’re strong of spirit, kind of heart and smart of mind; the golden trifecta and it doesn’t hurt that you are the sexiest being alive. When you’re ready come find me.’ Korra made to get up off the couch but Asami pulled her back into a tight embrace.

‘Don’t go – I mean not yet. Where will you go?’

Korra took a moment to think before responding, ‘It wouldn’t be fair to Bo, me moving back in after only two weeks, so I think I’ll head south back to my parents place.’ She paused and let out a brief huff of a laugh that Asami didn’t understand. ‘They are actually in town at the moment and they were looking forward to meeting you. I guess those plans are out the window but it does mean that I should be able to hitch a ride with them when they fly out tomorrow. I should call them, excuse me.’

‘Oh, okay.’ Asami thought that maybe they would have a few days together before parting but tomorrow was a lot sooner than what she was expecting and to be honest it didn’t entirely want Korra to ever leave, she hoped Korra would fight for her a little but she should have known better, Korra would always respect her wishes.

Korra stood up and made her way up to the bedroom where Asami herd a muffled conversation and a few sobs. Asami wondered how Korra’s parents were reacting to the news and she hoped that they wouldn’t judge her too harshly. _Will they eternally hate me for breaking their daughter’s heart?_ Asami decided to give her girlfriend/ex-girlfriend ( _?_ ) some privacy so she got up and retrieved the forgotten pizza from the table. She wasn’t feeling hungry anymore and she doubted that Korra was either so she put it in the fridge then went to the sink to splash some water on her face to wash off some of the tear stains.

After a few minutes Asami heard the shower start and she decided she would get changed and make up the couch for the night, she figured it might be easier on them then sharing a bed.

When she made it upstairs she could hear the strangled sobs coming from the bathroom and the thought that Korra was alone and upset make her feel like her insides were being ripped apart and it left her feeling raw. She knew pushing Korra away was going to hurt and she’d justified it to herself that it was the right thing to do but that didn’t stop the pain that Korra was clearly feeling as well. Asami desperately wanted to go in there and tell her she’d made a mistake, that she took it all back, She spent so much of her time fixing things, improving things and she wanted to do that now, fix the situation she’d caused but she couldn’t.

Instead she changed into her pyjamas and retrieved her extra pillow and blanket from the cupboard and went to descend the stairs but not before stopping and calling out to Korra, ‘You alright in there?’ she knew it was a stupid question but she needed Korra to know that she still cared.

‘Y-yeah, I’ll be out in a sec.’

‘No, take all the time you need, I showered at the track.’

‘O-okay.’ Korra’s choked up voice pulled at her heart and she felt her eyes water again. She sniffed the tears back and made her way down stairs.

When Asami had bought the couch she made sure that it was long enough for her to lie fully stretched out on, tonight however she had her knees tucked up under her chin as she quietly sobbed and waited for sleep to take her. Sleep seemed illusive as her mind kept trying to tell her heart that she was making the right decision. She’d lost track of time when she heard Korra timidly call her name.

‘Asami?’ She looked up to see Korra sitting half way down the stairs with a sad look on her face. ‘What are you doing down here?’

‘I didn’t know if you would want to share the bed with me or not, so I made the couch up for myself.’

‘It’s your place Asami, I can’t let you sleep on the couch, besides I don’t feel like being alone right now, join me on the bed?’

‘You sure?’

Korra nodded and gave her a sad smile, ‘yeah.’

‘Okay.’

Once back upstairs Asami slipped into bed and manoeuvred herself so that she was right up against the edge so to give Korra as much space as possible. She felt the bed shift as Korra lay down and into the darkness she murmured ‘Good night’.

Sleep was just as distant for her up here as it had been down on the couch. Asami could hear Korra’s breathing and she knew that she wasn’t asleep, she also hated the distance she’d forced between them. She rolled over to look at Korra, her face looked tired and her eyes were puffy from crying, yet the way she was looking at her was speaking volumes; sadness, understanding, hurt, pity, forgiveness, so many emotions that she wasn’t sure how she held so much in those once dazzling blue eyes that were now just pale and grey. Asami hesitantly reached out to comfort Korra but just as she thought, _maybe Korra_ doesn’t _want my comfort,_ Korra grabbed her hand and linked their fingers together. Korra looked at their joined hands then gave Asami a soft smile. _I’m going to miss her smiles, even the sad smiles she gives._ Tears were about to well in her yes and she closed them to try and fight them off. She felt Korra gently caress her thumb with her own and Asami was grateful for the soothing gesture.

‘Thank you.’ She whispered still with her eyes closed, she didn’t think she’d be able to get the words out if she was looking at that sad face.

‘What for?’

‘For agreeing to stay tonight. For not yelling at me. For going with me to the Fire Nation. For loving me. For everything. But most of all for being you. I’m not sure I would have made it this far without you by my side but I know that for this next part I have to go it alone.’

There was a long pause before Asami felt the bed shift and then the press of Korra’s lips against hers. The kiss was soft and she felt the wetness of Korra’s tears against her face but it was loving and sad all at once and she didn’t hesitate to return it. She understood everything that Korra was putting into the kiss, _I love you, You mean the world to me, I love you, I know you told me not to wait but it’s not waiting if there’s nobody else out there, I love you, please don’t take too long, I love you, please don’t forget me,_ and she hoped that Korra understood everything she was putting into it as well, _I love you, I’m sorry I’m doing this but it’s the only way I know how to cope, I love you, please don’t hate me for this, I love you, go enjoy your life, I love you, please don’t forget me._

Korra pushed further into the kiss, pulling Asami flush against her, one of her hands gained purchase on an exposed bit of skin on Asami’s hip and both their hearts quickened at the contact. Asami felt the kiss turn needy and desire and arousal ignited within her and she knew that Korra was feeling it as well when she felt Korra’s tongue slide against her own. With out talking clothes were roughly shed intermingled with kisses. When they were both striped down they stopped and looked at each other. Korra gave her a lustful look and Asami felt her groin ach with need and she gave a nod to Korra’s unasked question, _yes, I need this too, take me._

Without further hesitation Korra was everywhere at once, she had one hand tangled in her ebony hair, while the other scratched up and down her side, her mouth was peppering kisses down her torso starting at her neck and making her way further down with each kiss. Asami felt like she could barely breath, her body was worked up in anticipation of either Korra’s hand or mouth reaching her folds, that each touch to her skin was sending shocks straight to her pulsing entrance. Korra took one of her nipples into her mouth and Asami let out a hiss at the contact and her mind started to cloud as Korra swirled and flicked her tongue over the sensitive nub. Her body started to roll subconsciously seeking any kind of contact it could get and she opened her knees out to give Korra the encouragement to take her.

‘Please.’ She begged through ragged breaths.

Her heart was pounding so hard she could even feel her pulse throbbing in her ears. Asami’s skin crawled with need, she needed Korra, needed to feel her inside her, needed to know that she hadn’t fucked everything up completely. Asami grabbed the wrist of the hand that was caressing her side and directed it down between her legs. Korra didn’t touch her though, she stopped her movements completely and looked into Asami’s eyes.

‘Why are you stopping?’ She whined, hating herself for sounding so pathetic and needy.

‘Just savouring the moment, if this is going to be our last time for awhile, I don’t want to forget a second of it.’

‘Oh Korra.’

She pulled her in for another passionate kiss gripping Korra’s back and holding her as close as she could, She understood that feeling, she felt it too. As they continued to kiss, Korra’s fingers slid through her wet folds and Asami pulled Korra even closer trapping her arm between their bodies, while her other arm wrapped around Asami. She arched into the touch silently urging Korra on. Korra’s kisses now littered her neck and her head swam in euphoria as her teeth grazed a sensitive particularly sensitive spot. What Korra was going to her felt amazing, her fingers were massaging her inner lips, one finger down each side simultaneously rubbing up and down, while her mouth left a trail of soft pink bruises along her neck and chest.

Asami knew Korra was purposefully avoiding touching her clit, over the past couple of week Korra had been trying different techniques to coax an orgasm out of her and one of the tricks the was showing promising results was working her up to the peak of arousal before claiming bud but they’d never gotten the timing right and either her release had fallen away or it was too painful to be touched and she’d crawled away exhausted yet unsated.

As Korra continued her actions the heat between them grew, a thing layer of sweat coated their bodies it helped their bodies glide against each other. With each movement of Korra’s hand their bodies rocked back and forth, soft supple breasts rubbing together.

‘nnnghhhhgaaaarrrr…’ Asami let out the strangled cry as Korra slid two fingers past her aching entrance and she felt connected to Korra like she’d never felt before. _I’m going to miss this._ Asami wrapped both her legs around her lover’s waist, the new angle allowing for more skilled movements from Korra’s hand and well-practiced fingers to reach the sweet spot on her front wall. Asami was already a panting mess, waves of ecstasy were flowing through her body and she needed to let the floodgates open and release them. ‘Now!’ she panted in Korra’s ear and she felt Korra’s thumb move into position and then gently swipe erratically over her clit. Her body tensed against Korra’s a her orgasm hit herder than anything she’d ever felt before, she berried her teeth into Korra’s shoulder as her inner muscles rippled around the fingers still gently rubbing along her walls. All she could do was hold on for dear life as body twitched and tingled with pure bliss.

Before long every muscle in her body relaxed and she collapsed onto the bed unable to move, while Korra untangled herself from Asami’s floppy limbs.

‘Wow, that was- wow.’ Asami couldn’t really form proper thoughts her head was pleasantly empty. Korra snuggles in closer to her and rested her head on Asami’s chest.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Pleasantly numb, just give me a minute.’

‘What for?’

‘Me to return the favour.’

‘Oh.’

As she lay there recovering she ran her fingers lightly over Korra’s back and wished she’d had the opportunity to see Korra’s tattoo. She’d seen the faint scaring over her back left from the needle but she guessed it didn’t have the same effect at seeing the glowing marks that covered her back. When she felt the strength return to her she rolled them over and she straddled Korra’s waist. ‘My turn.’ She growled as she claimed Korra’s lips in a fierce kiss. Korra’s body rolled beneath hers and all the languidness from before was suddenly replaced with fever. She took Korra’s bottom lip between her teeth and bit down hard earning her a delightfully sounding moan. She raked her nails down Korra’s sides as she kissed and sucked her way down Korra’s chest and just as she was about to take one of those erect brown nipples into her mouth she looked up and held Korra’s hungry gaze, observing eyes blown wide with lust and passion. While keeping eye contract she slid both hands to Korra’s full breasts and while she kneaded one she sharply twisted the other nipple between her fingers and she felt proud of the hiss that she was greeted with. She smirked at Korra whole just glared back at her.

‘You bitch, stop teasing me, and fuck me already.’ Korra really did have a fowl mouth when it came to sex. It had taken them a couple off sessions for Asami to discover that Korra was quite the screamer, in fact Korra had admitted that cumming never felt as good as when she was howling her lungs out, and that’s exactly the parting gif that Asami was aiming for.

‘Soon, my love.’

Asami continued kneading a soft mound when she licked her way down Korra’s abbs, lightly nipping at the domed muscles, there was a thin layer of fat that had accumulated over them recently but they were still well defined and wonderful. As she continued her decent she relished in the sounds Korra was making, most predominant being the soft whining noise she made at the back her throat, they just egged Asami on further. When she reached her destination she gently slipped two fingers between the inviting folds and spread them, revealing Korra’s tight wet pussy just begging to be fucked. She gently blew on the exposed flesh and watched as the muscles to Korra’s entrance quivered at the sensation.

‘You’re beautiful Korra, I don’t think I ever told you that enough.’

‘Never as beautiful as you Asami.’ Despite the heat between them and Korra’s glistening skin, Asami still noticed the shy blush that spread over her face. Asami always marvelled at Korra’s duality; how she could simultaneously be writhing and commanding during hot steamy sex but also bashful and shy at the same time. _I’m really going to miss her._

There were lots of things that Asami was going to miss about Korra, this woman who’d entered her life rather unexpectedly just seemed to fit right in there like that’s were she was meant to be there, she was the perfect fit. And Asami believed Korra was perfect, from her sense of humour right down to her chiselled body. They always say that beauty lies in the imperfections and Asami believed that to be true, Korra _was_ perfect but her favourite part of her was her one enlarged inner lip. Even though Korra hadn’t said so Asami could tell she was quite self-conscious about it but Asami thought it was beautiful and was the epitome of what Korra was; delicate and reserved yet this one little cheeky part of her was popping out without a care in the world.

Asami sucked the protruding lip into her mouth and massaged it with her tongue, and teased it with her teeth. Korra let out a slight groan of pleasure and Asami repeated her action on the other smaller lip, savouring the texture and taste that was Korra.

Korra was already a squirming sweaty mess, that was dripping down onto her sheets and Asami was finding it hard to pay attention and not get lost in the moment, she wanted to remember this. In one very long stroke Asami licked her way through Korra’s pussy then up her body, taking not in the transition in taste between her juices and her sticky sweat. When Asami was eye level with Korra again she rolled off of her and sat up against the bed head, Korra was about to protest when Asami curled a beckoning finger at her. Korra grinned in response and crawled her way up to Asami’s lap, like a predatory saber-tooth moose lion. Korra was moving too slow for her liking so she grabbed her by the hips and pulled her close. The kiss was a mess of teeth and tongues and Asami slipped her mouth to the side to whisper into Korra’s ear ‘You might want to hold on to something.’

Korra wrapped her arms behind Asami’s shoulders and held onto the bars of the bed head, as Asami snaked a hand between them before slipping two fingers into Korra’s wet, warm, depths.

Asami started moving her fingers in soft languid motions but apparently Korra wasn’t having any of that. ‘Fuck me Asami! Fuck me.’ She growled and she began frantically grinding herself into Asami’s hand. Korra’s body rocked hard against her body causing their nibble drag against each other with each thrust, the sensation was a little overwhelming and Asami felt her own arousal rekindle at the sensation. Korra was taken over by something that Asami thought seemed primal and all she could do was hold her tight with one arm around her and let Korra do what she needed. The grinding was accompanied by whaling that kept getting higher pitched and Asami’s hand was coated in a warm, silky mess, which was a sign that Korra was getting close to her release. The whole bed shook with her efforts and Asami was glad that she didn’t have neighbours.

Korra’s aggressive motions slowed to long, hard, deliberate thrusts, like her body was searching for something. Asami’s hand was sore and cramping rather severely but she couldn’t remove it from Korra’s depths, she knew what Korra was searching for. She curled her fingers forward into Korra’s front wall and Korra started screaming, ‘YES RIGHT THERE. FUCK ME. DON’T STOP. DON’T STOP. DON’T ST ARRRRRRRRRGHHH’ and after slammed down onto her hand one last time Korra froze and Asami counted to three in her head before she started to slowly move her finger back and forth inside her lover drawing out the orgasm to its full extent. Korra was clinging to Asami like a baby hog monkey, her arms and legs were wrapped around her and her head gently resting on Asami shoulder gently moaning. Asami could feel the sound vibrating through her body as well.

After a little while the moans turned to sobs and warm tears started to pool in the crevice of her collarbone. She hadn’t known Korra to cry after sex so she figured that something must be wrong. She gently extracted her trapped hand and gently started to caress Korra’s back, trying to sooth her as best she could.

‘It’s okay Sweety, let it out.’

‘I-I-I Don’t want to lose you Asami.’ she cried.

‘You won’t lose me, I promise, I’ll come back you, I’ll always come back.’ She turned her head to the side and gave her a soft kiss to her forehead.

Korra was still clinging to her, so she moved them both down the bed so that they could lie down. Even though Korra wasn’t letting go Asami still held her close as she searched for the blanket with her free arm to pull over them. Korra’s eventually breathing evened out and Asami could hear the gentle snore that was a tell tail sign that Korra had drifted off to sleep. _Fuck, I’m going to have to think of something to do to make this up to her, she deserves so much more than what I’ve been able to give._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because who doesn't love breakup sex?Please don't hate me, but do feel free to fill the comments with abuse, or love, or anything really, comments are what make this whole thing work.
> 
> Because of where I've taken the story and because I need a style change I've turned this into a series and this is going to be the last chapter of Part 1 and Part two will be called 'Letters From the End of the World' so keep an eye out for that when I get to posting it.


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